Bonalu
Hyderabad's goddess procession of the monsoons
Significance
A thanksgiving for surviving cholera and plague epidemics of the 19th century. Ashadha month is considered inauspicious generally, but Bonalu transforms it into festival.
Women in bright cotton sarees balance 'bonam' pots — rice, jaggery and curd topped with burning diyas — on their heads in processions to Mahakali temples. The Potharaju men, smeared in turmeric and vermilion, dance possessed at the front.
First-time visitor
Target the second Sunday at Ujjaini Mahakali, follow the Lal Darwaza Ghatam procession.
What to see
- Bonam (rice pot) procession
- Potharaju dance — whip-cracking trance performers
- Rangam — oracle prophecy on the final Sunday
- Ghatam procession from Lal Darwaza
Festival foods
Best for
Travel tips
- 1Each Sunday during Ashadha has its own key temple
- 2Rangam oracle at Ujjaini Mahakali draws millions
- 3Photograph Potharaju from a respectful distance
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Charminar, Hyderabad
Telangana
The 1591 four-minaret monument at the heart of old Hyderabad, built to commemorate the end of a plague — the icon of the Qutb Shahi sultanate and the beating core of the city's bangle and biryani bazaars.
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Questions & Answers
About Bonalu
Bonalu 2026 is scheduled for 12 Jul – 9 Aug 2026. That's 79 days from today.
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