The Telangana diaspora celebrated the festival of Bonalu at the iconic Shri Ganesh Temple in Papakura, South Auckland, on July 11.
Bonalu is a Hindu festival celebrated traditionally in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad and other parts of Telangana to commemorate the Goddess Kali. It is usually held in the month of Ashada in July/August.
The festival name Bonalu is derived from the word Bojanaalu or a meal in Telugu and means an offering to the Goddess Mahakali. Women bring cooked rice with milk, sugar sometimes onions in a brass or earthen pot, adorned with small neem branches and turmeric, vermilion (Kumkum), or Kadi (white chalk) and a lamp on the top. Women place the pots on their heads and bear them to the temple, led by drummers and dancers.
It was the fourth edition of the festival being celebrated at Shri Ganesh Temple after previously being celebrated in various community halls to ensure the religious sanctity and spirituality was maintained and not lost upon the forthcoming generations of Telangana diaspora.
The festival was organised under the aegis of Telangana Federation of New Zealand – a federation body that strives to bring different Telangana community associations of New Zealand together under one umbrella witnessed enthusiastic participation from more than two hundred community members including wider Kiwi-Indian community.
Hon Consul of India Bhav Dhillon was the chief guest at the festival, who thanked the organisers and the executive team of Sri Ganesha Temple for putting together a ritualistic ceremony and a real cultural feast for the wider Kiwi-Indian communities.
The pooja was conducted by chief priest Subramaniam Parameswaran, who is known as Priest Chandru and considered as the one of the most revered Hindu priests in New Zealand.
About Bonalu
The origin of this festival can be traced back to around 1813 in the erstwhile Hyderabad State, when plague broke out in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad and took lives of thousands of people. Soldiers and people from a military battalion of Hyderabad state, which was then deployed in Ujjain – a prominent Hindu pilgrim city and the centre of the famous Mahakaleshwara Temple began worshipping Goddess Mahakali to emancipate the sufferings of the people of the state of Hyderabad.
It is believed that Goddess Mahkali bestowed her blessings and the plague receded thus prompting the military battalion to install an idol of Goddess Mahakali on their return to Hyderabad.
Since then, it has become a tradition to offer Bonalu to Goddess Mahakali in the month of Asadh by the people of Telangana all around the world.
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