Bonalu is a religious festival observed by the Hindu community in reputation of the goddess Mahakali. Goddess mahakali is believe by the Hindus as the goddess of power and this day is kept for her in a special way to give thanks for saving the people from the dreadful diseases of plague. It has a long story related to this festival and its origin with this goddess. According to legend it was believe that the plague that had spread in India during the year of 1813 was cause as a result of profanity receive from this goddess. During this time almost half of Hyderabad population was struck down by plague from which the people started to worship and honour goddess Mahakali by offering Bonalu asking her to save them. After which plague slowly began to disappear from the society which the Hindus believe it to be the work of her and so till today she is respected and worship by the Hindu community. Besides this legend there are numerous more other folktales related to this festival and different states believe in different sagas and traditional tales.
The festival is celebrated in the open air with pomp and deity. Women prepare special food and carry them on their head in procession with colourful customs for offering to the goddess in the temple. There is loud beating of drums everywhere in the localities with group of women dancing according to the rhythm of the music and the drum, which is one of the most interesting things to see.
In olden days according to our ancestor's tradition a lot of ritual services and practices are taken up during these days. Among them slaying of male buffalo in front of the temple and women going in procession dancing with bare feet were the most common practice. Those women are said to possess the spirit of the goddess and during the procession people pour water on their feet as way to soothe the possess spirit and come into normality. These activities have become the chief program of the celebration in the olden days. Nowadays the practice is not much lessened compared to the ancient days. The mode of celebration has become quite descent in cities and towns. However, in some places the traditional believes and practices are too strong that they stick each and every rule. Yet, the significant thing about Bonalu festival is that we should always be humble and respect every God equality.