Hyderabad: The Bonalu festival in the Old City concluded on Monday after ten days of traditional celebrations and worship of Goddess Mahankali.
The festival ended with a colorful procession featuring the teen maar band and dances by folk artists. This was followed by the immersion of ghatams on the Musi River bank at Nayapul.
A jatara was carried out on a well-decorated elephant named Rupavathi, which carried the ghatam of Goddess Mahankali from the Sri AkkannaMadanna temple in Hari Bowli, Shalibanda. Thousands of devotees lined the procession routes at Lal Darwaza, Haribowli Charminar, and Nayapul to watch the glittering convoy of ghatams. People welcomed the procession with flowers from stages set up along the route.
The Sri AkkannaMadanna temple committee led the procession, marking their 76th annual event. City Police Commissioner Kothakota Sreenivasa Reddy flagged off the procession by performing a puja to the Goddess atop the elephant.
Earlier in the day, a traditional event called Rangam was held at the AkkannaMadanna Temple. The oracle-teller, Anuradha, predicted good rains and protection for those suffering from health problems.
A total of 25 ghatams from major temples, including Mateshwari Mutyalamma Temple and Bangaru Maisamma Temple, were part of the procession. The celebrations began with pooja in the early hours, with hundreds of devotees participating in various temples across the city.
Around 11 am, the Pothuraju Swagatham was organized. Potharaju was seen blessing devotees around the temple, believed to protect them from evil spirits. The procession featured dances by potharajus and cultural programs by folk artists, which captivated the devotees.
The procession route started from Hari Bowli and passed through several key locations, including Maisamma Mahankali temple in Bela, Nehru Statue, Lal Darwaza x roads, Shalibanda, Charminar, Pathergatti, and Madina. It culminated at the Matha temple at Delhi Darwaza near Musi River in Nayapul.
The city police made extensive security arrangements for the two-day grand festivities, installing over 200 CCTV cameras around the temple and nearby areas. A large number of female constables were deployed to assist devotees, and police personnel were stationed near mosques along the route.
Around 2,000 police personnel, including Rapid Action Force (RAF), traffic police, Law and Order police, bomb squads, SHE teams, and crime teams, were deployed to ensure smooth conduct of the event.
