Scores of devotees, travelling all the way from Hyderabad, offered traditional ‘bonam’ to goddess Kanaka Durga atop Indrakeeladri here on Sunday.
The ambience of the Kanaka Durga temple came alive with the devotees offering ‘bonalu’ and ‘pattu vastralu’ to the goddess in the afternoon. The women devotees thronged the temple carrying the traditional offering made of rice, jaggery and curd on their head.
The devotees took out a procession from the Brahmin Street to the temple premises with colourful ‘potharajus’, who drew the attention of the devotees with their gyrations to the rhythmic drum beats. They also caught the eyeballs of the bystanders with their faces painted with a heavy dose of vermilion and turmeric.
Folk artistes transformed themselves into demons and goddesses. ‘Ghatam’, a pot made of copper and silver, decorated in the form of goddess, was also carried during the procession.
The devotees came under the aegis of Sri Mahankali Bonala Jathara Utsavala Ummadi Devalayala Uregimpu Committee, a conglomeration of more than 300 temples in Hyderabad. Committee chairman K. Praveen Kumar Goud said that they have been following this tradition every year and offering ‘bonam’ and ‘pattu vastralu’ to the goddess before the main bonalu festival in Secunderabad and Hyderabad. Though the two States have been divided, the committee was continuing the tradition for the well-being of the Telugu-speaking people in the two States and also across the country, he said, adding, we took the initiative to erase the tensions among the people and to give brotherhood message that we are culturally united and remain so.
