VIJAYAWADA: Hyderabad-based Bhagyanagar Sri Mahankali Jatara Bonalu Utsavalu Ummadi Devalayala Uregimpu Committee participated in the annual ritual of offering Bangaru Bonam to Kanaka Durga temple atop Indrakeeladri hill on Sunday, July 18, 2021. The committee has been offering Telangana traditional Bonam to the Goddess Kanak Durga for the past 12 years and the festival is conducted in the auspicious Ashada Masam to seek the blessings of Goddess.
Devotees from Telangana reached the temple premises around 10 am in the morning and Endowments Minister Vellampalli Srinivasa Rao, temple executive officer (EO) D Bramarambha and temple trust board chairperson Paila Sominaidu welcomed them with temple honours and participated in the ritual.
The committee members and artists from Telangana performed Ganga Teppa Puja at Durga ghat. As part of the tradition, the devotees took out a procession from the Brahmin Street to the temple premises with colourful potharajus dancing to the rhythmic drum beats by smearing vermilion and turmeric on their faces. Women devotees thronged the temple carrying traditional bonam on their heads prepared with rice, jaggery and curd. After the possession, they offered bonalu and pattu vastram to the goddess.
“As a tradition, we are visiting Vijayawada and offering bonalu to the Goddess Kanaka Durga along with the Bonam festival commencement in Telangana. Our committee has been offering bonalu and robes to the Kanaka Durga for many years and we will continue this tradition further,” committee president B Balwanth Yadav said. Bramarambha lauded the committee’s initiative of promoting brotherhood. She said silk robes will be presented to the committee members on July 30.