Bonalu is one of the folk festivals popular in the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh. The word “Bonalu” is the short form of “Bhojanalu”, meaning “food”, which is offered to the Goddess. Bonalu started as a harvest feast gradually progressing into a processional dance. Bonalu is celebrated in the month of Aashadha, according to Hindi calendar, which falls in the month of June or July. The festival is celebrated predominantly by Hindus.

Performance— women folk participate in the procession carrying ‘Ghatams’ or ornamented pots filled with flowers on their heads. The women devotees also carry brass vessels or clay pots filled with cooked rice and decorated with neem leaves. In the procession men accompany the women devotees by playing drums and go to worship the local deity. Dressed in colorful dresses they balance the pots to the rhythmic songs and tunes, sung in glorifying the village deity Mahankali. The male dancers are known as Potharajus, who lead the procession by lashing whips and neem leaves.