Hyderabad: After a long battle with the COVID-19 second wave, the Telangana government is ready for this year’s Ashada Bonalu celebrations which will begin on July 11.
A traditional Hindu festival, Bonalu is known to celebrate the Goddess Mahakali. Special poojas are performed for Renuka Yellamma, one of the many regional forms of Mahakali on the first and last day of the festival. The festival is also considered a thanksgiving to the Goddess for fulfillment of vows.
The name Bonalu means a meal or feast as an offering to the goddess, therefore women prepare rice cooked with milk and jaggery in a new brass or earthen pot adorned with neem leaves, turmeric, vermilion and a lit up diya on top of the pot. Women carry these pots on their heads and make an offering of the Bonam along with turmeric-vermilion, bangles in traditional sari to the Mother Goddess across the temples.
Ashada Bonalu is celebrated as the state festival during June-July. This year the festival will start from July 11 after the first day of Amavasya from the Golconda Fort.
As the festival involves marching, the focus is on road repairs, sanitation, lighting at temples and other facilities, the Telangana government has therefore sanctioned Rs 15 crore solely for conducting the festival on a large scale.
Cinematography Minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav said that they are to conduct a high-level meeting at Dr. Marri Channa Reddy Human Resource Development Institute of Telangana this Friday to discuss arrangements regarding the upcoming celebration.
Performances by various artists reflecting the Telangana culture will be shown during the festival. Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao has also said to have expressed a desire to offer the Bangaru Bonam on behalf of the state government.
The following meeting would be attended by Deputy Speaker Padma Rao Goud, Ministers Talasani Srinivas Yadav, Mohammed Mahmood Ali, Indrakaran Reddy, Sabitha Indra Reddy, Ch Malla Reddy, Mayor Gadwal Vijayalaxmi and senior officials from Endowment and Police Department.