6 days ago
- Entertainment
- New Indian Express
Golconda sways to Bonalu fervour
HYDERABAD: The centuries-old Golconda Fort was filled with colour, devotion and music as thousands of devotees gathered on Sunday, the first Sunday of the month-long Bonalu festival in Hyderabad.
Women, young girls and transgender persons offered the traditional Bonam — a decorated pot filled with rice, jaggery, curd and neem leaves — to Goddess Jagadamba, the presiding deity of the Golconda temple. Leading the procession were the Pothurajus — bare-chested, smeared in turmeric and vermillion — who danced to drum beats, clearing the way for the goddess symbolically and spiritually. With whips in hand, they stomped in rhythm with the dappu drums.
Chants of 'Jai Mata Di' and 'Amma Bonalu' echoed through the fort as the procession began early and continued late into the night. Each Bonam, carried on the head, symbolised gratitude, protection and the fulfilment of vows.
Sharanya, a cross-dresser carrying the Bonam, said: 'I have been coming here for 10 years. This is where the first Bonam in the city begins. Bonam means bhojanam — meal. When the goddess feeds us all year, why can't we offer her a meal in return? This is why the Bonam is made from freshly harvested crops.'
Sharanya added: 'Farmers do not eat the new harvest until it is offered to the goddess. Most offerings include food that cools the body, like curd rice or jaggery. We go into a trance when the goddess enters us and then carry the Bonam. It can be turmeric rice, pachipulusu, jaggery rice or toddy. During Ashada Masam, it is believed the goddess returns to her maternal home, and these offerings welcome her and seek her blessings for health and prosperity.'
