Bonalu festival

About Bonalu:

• Bonalu is a Telangana traditional Hindu festival centered on the Goddess Mahakali.
• This festival is celebrated annually in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad, as well as in other parts of the state.
• It is celebrated in the month of Ashada Masam, which is around July and/or August. Special "poojas" (worship/ ceremonies) are performed for Yellamma (one of the many regional forms of Mahakali) on the first and last day of the festival.
• The festival is also considered a thanksgiving to the Goddess for fulfillment of vows.
• The word Bonam is a contraction of the word Bhojanam, a Sanskrit loanword which means a meal or a feast in Telugu and festival  is an offering to the Mother Goddess.
• Women prepare rice cooked with milk and jaggery in a new brass or earthen pot adorned with neem leaves, turmeric, vermilion and a lit lamp on top of the pot.
• Women carry the pots on their heads and make an offering of the Bonam along with turmeric-vermilion, bangles and sari to the Mother Goddess across the temples.
• Bonalu involves the worship of Mother Goddess in regional forms like Maisamma, Pochamma, Yellamma, Peddhamma, Dokkalamma, Ankalamma, Poleramma, Maremma, Nookalamma.

Prelims Question

Bonalu is a disease mainly celebrated in the state of:
(a)Gujarat
(b)Uttar Pradesh
(c)Telangana
(d)Kerala

Answer to the Prelims Question