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Home » Culture » Festivals » Bonalu
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Bonalu
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Bonalu is a famous festival of Andhra Pradesh which is especially celebrated with great aplomb in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad. The term Bonalu comes form “Bhojanalu” or food offering which is made to the Goddess Mahakali. The festival Bonalu is celebrated in the Ashada masam( July to August). During this festival women dress colorfully and perform a dance balancing exquisitely painted pots on their head. These women dance along with the mellifluous beats of the tunes sung in the praise of Goddess Mahakali. In these pots usually an offering for Goddess Mahakali is taken which includes cooked rice, water and sometimes pickles and onions. Male dancers follow their female counterparts in the dance procession to the temple and they are accompanied by blaring trumpets and pulsating percussions. The women folk are preceeded by 'Potharajus” who is believed to be initiator of the festivities and protector of the village.
http://www.szcc.tn.nic.in/05_folk/andhra/Bonalu/
bonalu.html
This site is a power house of information on Bonalu. This site outlines the origin of the term from the word 'bhojanalu' or food offering to the mother Goddess. It then faithfully chronicles all the rituals involved in the Bonalu festival. The pujari or the priest carrying the image of the Goddess (ghatam) arrives at a particular locality. The arrival of the image of the Goddess sets the pace of the dance procession in the locality. It becomes a community dance participated only by the male members usually while the women carry 'Bonalu' or offering in brightly painted vessels with flames burning on them. These pots are usually colored in scared colors of yellow, white and red. They over all mood is one of celebration and religious jubilation. Potharuju is a chief conductor of the celebrations and he always dances before the procession starts.
http://www.ap.gov.in/aptourism/themes/heritage/heritage_folkarts_bottom4.html
This is a official site for the Andra Pradesh government and it depicts the different festivals of Andhra Pradesh with faithful precision. Amongst these festivals the Bonalu celebrations rank quite high and is depicted quite in detail. A great site for those who want authentic information on the origin and rituals of the Bonalu festivities in Andhra Pradesh.
http://khojhyderabad.com/News/WFullstory.asp?D=&q=66847
The article provided in this site traces the preparation in the city of Hyderabad on the eve of the Bonalu festival. Even the Information and Public Relation Minister Mr. Ali Shabbir took active interest in making this people' festival as glorious and safe for the people as possible. He emphasized the fact that the police department would deploy larger number of female officers to facilitate the comfort and security of the women participating in the festival .This article serves to underline the importance of Bonalu festival and the painstaking preparations that goes behind it.
http://www.nrityanjali.org/fd_mbonalu.asp
This site gives another charming depiction of the rituals of the Bonalu festival. It provides you an amazing array of trivia about the origins of the festival. This festival is believed to have started in 1869 when a huge epidemic plague in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secundrabad. This festival was initiated to please the mother Goddess whose wrath was supposed to be the cause of the epidemic. The celebration usually includes the women folk carrying a battery of pots brightly colored and arranged vertically over each other. Usually this also includes a dance procession along with drum beats. This century old festival is still celebrated in the Telengana Region with great religious fervor and undiminished ebullience.
http://www.indiavisitinformation.com/indian-culture/indian-festival/BONALU-in-india.shtml
This site provides with a small but insightful article on Bonalu celebrations in Andhra Pradesh. It is filled with myriad of details which would entice anybody who is interested in gathering information on Bonalu celebration. It also provides a colorful picture of the Bonalu festivity.
http://www.aryabhatt.com/fast_fair_festival/Festivals/Bonalu.htm
This site tell you about Bonalu, a month long festival which is marked by devotional singing and dancing and ritualistic worship of the Goddess Mahakali. Along with this Godess other village deities like Yellamma, Masimma, Pochamma nd Gundamma are also worshipped. A quintessential feature of Bonalu festivities are the “Ghatams “ or decorated pots carried by the women.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/lf/2002/08/05/stories/2002080501520200.htm
This site tries to capture the quintessential spirit of Bonalu celebrations in Hyderabad with the help of some graphic picture .These colorful snaps succeeds in capturing the jubilation and religious fervor of the festival of Bonalu.
http://www.destinationindia.com/travel_guide/festivals/bonalu.html
This site is a ode to the century old Bonalu festival of Telengana region of Andhra Pradesh which is still celebrated with undiminished jubilation and religious ardency. The different rituals involved in this traditional Andhra festival is reliably narrated in this site.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1165868.cms
This site faithfully delineates the preparation and anticipation in the city of Hyderabad which precedes the Bonalu celebration. It also chronicles the different rituals of the festivities which are to take place this year. Some photo exhibition of the Bonalu festivities are also to take place during the Bonalu festival. This article suggest that Bonalu festival is not merely a religious festival nowadays but has taken serious cultural connotation.
http://www.andhracafe.com/index.php?m=show&id=9991
This site investigates the allegations that some actresses are paid high remuneration for attending the jatras or processions conducted during Bonalu festivities. Several screen goddesses are often seen attending the Bonalu festivites dressed in finery in Telengana style. This site asks the pertinent question that are these fake glamour dolls necessary in a religious festival like Bonalu which is legendary for the ardency and ebullience of its devotees.
These sites sing a paean to the religious fervor and jubilation of the Bonalu festival held in Andhra Pradesh
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