Bonalu 2024: Hyderabad’s Grand Celebration Highlights Tradition and Devotion

Hyderabad’s annual Bonalu festival unfolded on Sunday with full traditional fervor, drawing massive crowds to Mahakali temples citywide. The festival, instituted as a state holiday in 2014, venerates the goddess Mahakali in her many forms during the Ashadha month. Participants carry "bonam" containers filled with rice, jaggery, curd and turmeric‑spiked water atop their heads, offering them for health and prosperity. The 118th edition at the Singhavahini Mahakali Temple in Old City’s Lal Darwaza featured special pujas attended by ministers, legislators, party leaders, and celebrities such as Vijay Deverakonda and director Sandeep Reddy Vanga. Government officials presented silk sarees to the deity, and civic agencies provided water, sanitation, and lighting. Over 2,000 police personnel were on duty, ensuring safety. The two‑day event will conclude on Monday at the Akkanna Madanna Temple, with temporary bans on alcohol sales in surrounding districts.