The city's own festival

Hyderabad Times tunes into the Bonalumood.Bonalu the festival of cheer, colour and celebration is here and many in the city look up to this unique festival which is a part of the city's quaint culture . Although the Ujjain Mahankali Temple in Secunderabad is the place where the main celebrations take place, the rituals are performed at almost every other Mahankali temple in the city.
Born in the late 19th century , Bonalu (short for Bhojanalu, meaning food) started as a ritual to ward-off the ire of the Goddess. This ire was considered to have caused an epidemic that had claimed hundreds of lives. Since then, Bonalu has been celebrated in the twin cities, and surrounding villages. Although considered to be a festival of the Telangana region, this is chiefly celebrated into twincities .
However, with changing times, the festival has taken its own cosmopolitan form. For example, there has been an instance where a Muslim did the job of the Potharaju, an integral part of the ritual . Also, the Mahankali temple in Secunderabad has its own committee, which supervises the festival. A new feature this year has been the inclusion of a large set of security measures. "We don't mind the security cover, in fact with increasing number of attacks occurring at religious places, this is a welcome change," says S Narender, who has been celebrating this festival for the past 15 years.
"The number of people celebrating the festival is so large, that I think it is necessary to have security," says V Nagesh, another devotee.
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