Women carrying ‘Bonalu’ queued up in the lanes and by-lanes of Karimabad and other localities in Warangal city on Monday.
Hundreds of people thronged the place to attend to the annual ‘Beeranna Swamy Bonalu’ festival. People in large numbers perched on the buildings in the vicinity to witness the colourful procession.
People danced to the beats of traditional percussion beats in gay abandon. The women, who formed long queues carrying Bonalu, walked over the sacrificed animal.
The festival celebrated on Ekadasi mainly by the Golla Kuruma community, is the second largest Bonalu festival in Telangana after of the ‘Mahankali Bonalu’ of Hyderabad.
Women clad in colourful sarees and young girls in traditional wear smeared turmeric. Potharjulu danced to the drum beats Beeranna temple committee members said the festival was celebrated for Lord Shiva.
Lord Siva incarnated as Beeranna, a shepherd, who desired to marry his uncle’s daughter. His uncle who was a landlord refused to give his daughter to the shepherd. But, Beeranna moved by the love of the young woman hatched a plan and took her away against the wishes of his uncle.
The shepherd community considers Beeranna as incarnation of Lord Shiva and celebrates his courage and fearlessness. Every year, they offer prayers and celebrate Ekadasi because on this day Beeranna had married his uncle’s daughter.
The police made elaborate security arrangements for the festival to avoid any untoward incident during the festival.
