Bonalu (Mahakali Bonam)

Mahakali · Pochamma · Yellamma · Maisamma (Smartha Shakta forms)

Smartha

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Bonalu — Ashada Shakti festival unique to Telangana, offered to Mahakali/Pochamma/Yellamma at Hyderabad's Sri Ujjaini Mahakali (Secunderabad) and Lal Darwaza Mahakali (Old City) shrines. Smartha women cook fresh rice-jaggery bonam, carry it in procession on the head, and present it after a morning fast.

Dates 2026–2027

July 26, 2026July 18, 2027

Mantra

ॐ नमः शिवाय। ॐ ऐं ह्रीं क्लीं चामुण्डायै विच्चे।

Om Namah Shivaya · Om Aim Hrim Klim Chamundayai Vicche

Om Namah Shivaya. Salutations to Chamunda — the fierce mother who protects the city.

How to recite

Bonalu is the Ashada (June–July) annual Shakti festival unique to Telangana, with the principal observance at the Sri Ujjaini Mahakali temple, Secunderabad, and Lal Darwaza Mahakali temple, Old City Hyderabad. Smartha women fast through the morning, cook fresh rice with jaggery, curd, and ghee, place it in a brass or earthen pot decorated with neem leaves & turmeric, carry it on the head in procession (Bonam = 'meal' = bhojanam), and offer it to the Goddess. The Rangam (oracle by a Matangi woman entering trance) follows the offering at the principal shrines.

Benefits

Held to invoke the Goddess's protection over the family and the city through the disease-prone monsoon, in continuity with the festival's 1813 origin during the Hyderabad plague.

✦ Special Note

Ashada-month Sundays in Hyderabad — Golconda Bonalu opens the season, Secunderabad Bonalu mid-month, Lal Darwaza Bonalu closes it. Listed dates are the Lal Darwaza Bonalu (closing Sunday): 2026-07-26, 2027-07-18 (estimated; confirm with Hyderabad temples).

Foods Allowed

Bonam (cooked rice with jaggery, curd, ghee — offered in a brass/earthen pot)Phalahar (fruits, milk) during the morning fastPulihora, prasadam from the temple after offering

Foods to Avoid

Meat at home (animal offering is made only at the temple by the priest in some shrines; household Smarthas keep fully vegetarian)Alcohol, tobacco during the vratOnion, garlic during fast hours

Meal Idea

Phalahar (fruits, milk) in the morning; break the fast at the temple with the bonam prasadam and pulihora distributed after the offering.

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