Crafting objects that transcend faiths

The Hindu

05-07-2025

Jehangir trusts only Yadagiri when it comes to the colourful decoration that is part of the Muharram commemoration in Telangana. Known as Peerula Panduga, the observance of Muharram, takes on a syncretic cultural aspect that is unique to the region and parts of rural Andhra Pradesh. The replica of battle standards used in the battle of Karbala which are known as alam are called piru in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
'There is nobody who has the skill, ability and craftsmanship like Yadagirisaab. Look at these paper flowers. They look real. No plastic decor can match what he can do,' says Jehangir who has travelled from Choutuppal to Charminar to pick up the decoration that is known as sehra. An intricate design that uses a bamboo frame with red and green coloured paper, mirrors, photographs and shimmer. 'The sehra is used to keep the alam in the middle,' says Jehangir who runs a chicken business in Choutuppal.
Yadagiri is a fourth generation bamboo craftsman for the sehra and thotelu who lives with his wife Anusaya. 'He is an artist. He has a way of moving scissors or drawing a line that cannot be matched. Look at these figures and the cut,' she says proudly as Yadagiri's fingers move briskly from scissors, to adhesive to bending the bamboo sticks.
Sitting inside another small room on the road to Charminar, with his mother and brother lending a helping hand is Naveen Kumar, another craftsman who nimbly weaves thin bamboo strands into a round object that will be the finial of another bamboo artefact of another faith — thotelu. On the first day of Bonalu festival, the tall square miniature temples (objects fashioned out of bamboo and covered with coloured paper), are taken out in procession through the streets.
'90% of the orders we get for sehra are from the districts. People send photographs and place the order and pick them up three days before Ashoora (10th day of Muharram). We have more orders for Bonalu thotelu,' says Naveen Kumar who makes both the objects that transcend faith and belief systems.
'I know when Aashadam is and plan logistics accordingly. I know that Islamic calendar keeps advancing by a few days and track that as well,' says Santosh Anand, another craftsman near the oldest Jama Masjid in Hyderabad.
While modern Hyderabad is considered one city, the tradition of Bonalu shows how it is a collection of cities with the first Bonalu celebration at the Golconda Fort, followed by Lashkar Bonalu or the Bonalu in Secunderabad and ending up with the Bonalu of Akkanna Madanna Mahankali Temple in the Old City. Not surprisingly, Bonalu is not celebrated in a big way in rural Telangana.