Bonalu celebrated with gaiety in Hyderabad

Animal Husbandry Minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav on Sunday offered Golden Bonam to the deity at the historic Ujjaini Mahankali Temple as part of Bonalu festivities. From early hours, devotees started lining up at the temple with several of them carrying Bonam for the Goddess. However, compared to earlier years, i.e. before the pandemic, the crowd was comparatively less.

In anticipation of large crowds on Sunday, many devotees had started visiting the temple from last week itself and offered Bonams. This is seen as one of the reasons for the temple not getting crowded on Sunday. “Several of my family members offered Bonam to the Thalli (mother) last Sunday as we expected a massive crowd today,” said Jaya Laxmi at Ujjaini Mahankali Temple.

The celebration started with ‘Abhishekam’ followed by Alankarana — decking up the deity with jewellery, after which devotees were allowed to enter the temple. Inside the temple premises, a homam- ritual was also done for hours.

Adequate arrangements were made by the authorities and temple committee members. Masks and sanitisers were



also provided to devotees and those coming to offer Bonam, a separate queue was marked. Security, illumination, sanitation and parking were the other arrangements made. Around 2,500 police personnel were deployed and 200 CCTV cameras were installed.

After offering Bonam, Minister Srinivas Yadav said, “I prayed the deity to end this Covid pandemic and bless the people of the State with happiness.” On Monday, the Rangam programme is scheduled wherein Oracle will predict the future.

Ahead of the festival, the State government had sanctioned Rs 15 crore for arrangements for Bonalu celebrations in the city and the distribution of cheques to temple committee members was underway.

Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao’s wife K Shobha, accompanied by Rajya Sabha Member J Santosh Kumar and his wife, visited the historic Ujjaini Mahankali Temple on Sunday. After offering prayers at the temple, Shobha along with Animal Husbandary Minister T Srinivas Yadav prayed at another temple located near the house of Deputy Speaker Padma Rao.