Lal Darwaza Mahankali Bonalu: The pious Posani Pothurajus

Hyderabad: Vermilion and turmeric smeared all over the body, brandishing whips in both hands, the Pothuraju is a key attraction in every Bonalu procession. At the Lal Darwaza Simhavahini Mahankali Temple, it is from the Posani family that Pothurajus have been serving the goddess Mahankali for the last 114 years. With the temple celebrating the […]

Hyderabad: Vermilion and turmeric smeared all over the body, brandishing whips in both hands, the Pothuraju is a key attraction in every Bonalu procession.

At the Lal Darwaza Simhavahini Mahankali Temple, it is from the Posani family that Pothurajus have been serving the goddess Mahankali for the last 114 years.

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With the temple celebrating the festival this Sunday and Monday, Posani Ashwin Kumar, who will become a Pothuraju for the seventh year running, is the fifth generation of the family to do so.

His ancestor Posani Babaiah had first donned the attire in 1908, with the tradition being passed onto to six others. Ashwin Kumar took over from his uncle Sudhakar, who took over from Posani Pothuraju Hemanand, who got the mantle from Aswhin Kumar’s father Posani Pothuraju Babu Rao.

According to Babu Rao, Pothuraju is the brother of seven goddess sisters and protects the goddess when being brought in a procession from the outskirts into the village. As a brother, Pothuraju presents all the people’s issues before the goddess, who blesses the people with health and peace.

“Our forefathers passed on this tradition to us and we are continuing it with the blessings of the goddess. Only married men in the family take up this. We as Pothuraju are only for the Lal Darwaza temple,” says Babu Rao, who was a Pothuraju for over 25 years, the longest in the family’s history.

Donning the role is a one-day affair, but it takes two months of preparation including performing exercises and maintaining a diet. The family performs a week-long puja starting from when the ‘ghatam’ is brought into the village, till it leaves in the procession for the Musi River where rituals are performed.

They are helped by the Bathula family, which has been for generations preparing the Posani Pothurajus with ‘bhandari’ (turmeric and vermilion) besides makeup.

The makeup takes nearly two hours while the procession, from their house in Mekalbanda to the temple takes about five hours though the distance is barely 500 metres. As the rally proceeds, the entire locality welcomes the Pothuraju by washing his feet and with garlands of flowers and shawls.

“It is not an easy task for five hours, particularly with lemons in my mouth and that in the middle of a frenzied crowd. Devotion and blessings of the goddess drive me,” Ashwin shares.

When he is not the Potharaju, the 35-year-old Ashwin is busy with his automobile spare parts shop in Shamshabad.