- By Kashish Rai
- Fri, 27 Jun 2025 09:00 AM (IST)
- Source:JND
Bonalu 2025: Bonalu is a vibrant and deeply rooted Hindu festival celebrated across Telangana, especially in Hyderabad and Secunderabad. It honours Goddess Mahakali and takes place every year during the month of Ashada Masam. The atmosphere during this time is filled with devotion, colour, and powerful energy. The first and final days of Bonalu are marked with special rituals dedicated to Yellamma, one of Mahakali’s regional forms. The entire celebration is a heartfelt expression of gratitude, thanking the Goddess for granting wishes and protecting communities.
Check out all the significant details about the start and end date, significance and rituals about this festival below:
Bonalu 2025: Start And End Date
- Bonalu 2025 Start Date: 29th June 2025, Sunday
- Bonalu 2025 End Date: 20th July 2025, Sunday
Bonalu 2025: Significance
The word ‘Bonalu’ comes from ‘Bhojanam’ – a Sanskrit term for ‘meal’ or ‘feast’. This sacred offering is prepared by women who cook rice with milk and jaggery in fresh brass or clay pots, which are decorated with neem leaves, turmeric, vermilion, and a small lit lamp. Balancing these pots on their heads, women visit temples to offer the Bonam, along with bangles, a sari, and turmeric to the Mother Goddess. It is believed that women carrying the Bonalu are temporarily embodying the fierce spirit of the Mother Goddess. As they near the temple, onlookers sometimes pour water on their feet as an act of respect and to help soothe the divine energy they carry.
Bonalu is a joyful and powerful festival in Telangana that honours Goddess Mahakali. Filled with rituals, devotion, and vibrant traditions, it brings communities together to offer gratitude, prayers and heartfelt celebrations. (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Bonalu 2025: Rituals
During Bonalu, several local forms of the Goddess are worshipped, including Maisamma, Pochamma, Yellamma, Peddhamma, Dokkalamma, Ankalamma, Poleramma, Maremma, and Nookalamma. Each has her own shrine and devoted following. The twin cities celebrate the festival in different locations across three consecutive Sundays of Ashadam. The first Sunday is marked by festivities at the Jagadamba Temple inside Golconda Fort in Hyderabad.
The second Sunday marks large gatherings at Yellamma Temple in Balkampet, Ujjaini Mahakali Temple, and Gandimaisamma Temple in Regimental Bazar, Secunderabad. On the third Sunday, the focus shifts to the Matheswari Temple at Lal Darwaza in Hyderabad’s Old City, along with Pochamma and Katta Maisamma temples in Chilkalguda.
Other notable temples where Bonalu is celebrated include the Akkanna Madanna Temple in Haribowli and the Muthyalamma Temple in Shah Ali Banda. Thousands of devotees visit these temples every year, offering their prayers and Bonam to Goddess Mahakali.
Women take part with great enthusiasm, dressing in traditional saris, adorning themselves with jewellery and accessories. Many take part in trance-like dances while balancing the Bonam pots to the rhythmic beats of drums. Traditionally, a male buffalo was sacrificed at temple entrances to ward off evil spirits. In modern times, this practice has shifted to rooster sacrifices.