Scores of women carrying Bonalu on their head crowded the lanes and bylanes of Karimabad area where the annual ‘Beeranna Swamy Bonalu’ is being held. People in large numbers occupied the terrace of almost all the buildings in the vicinity to witness the ritual.
The festival, celebrated on Ekadasi mainly by the Golla Kuruma community, is the second largest Bonalu festival in Telangana after the Mahankali Bonalu in Hyderabad.
Women clad in colourful sarees and young girls in traditional langa voni added colour to the celebrations. Potharjulu danced to the drum beats while others joined them in large numbers. Beeranna temple committee president and an elderly person from the Golla Kuruma community, Narige Bakkaiah, said the festival was part of the life of Lord Siva. Explaining a phase of Lord Siva’s life, he said during his incarnation as Beeranna, a shepherd, he desires to marry his uncle’s daughter. His uncle, a land lord, refuses to give his daughter in marriage with the poor shepherd. But Beeranna hatches a plan and takes her away against the wishes of his uncle. Because of this, the shepherd community considers Beeranna an incarnation of Lord Siva and celebrates his courage and fearlessness. Every year, they offer prayers and celebrate Ekadasi on this day when Beeranna married his uncle’s daughter.
The police had made elaborate security arrangements for the festival to avoid any untoward incident.
