About Akkanna Madanna Mahankali Temple in Hari Bowli, Shah-Ali-Banda, Hyderabad

Shree Akkanna Madanna Mahankali Mandiram is a historic 17th century temple situated in the heart of the old city of Hyderabad. It has been more than 67 years since the temple has been revived from the debris of Hari bowli at Shah Ali Banda. Before the temple was rejuvenated, a very few people in the old city had the knowledge of the existence of this temple. Ever since the temple of the great mahankali has seen the daylight of the old city, the Bonalu Festival is celebrated with grand spectacle and riches, and this year it would be the 67th time this festival is been celebrated in succession.
The story of the famous Akkanna Madanna Mahankali Mandiram is told in this way that, in the early 17th century the city of Hyderabad was ruled by a king called Thanasha. He was the emperor and stayed at the majestic golkonda fort. The royal king had many ministers at his court of which Akkanna & Madanna served as The Commander in Chief & The Prime Minister respectively. These two brothers were one of the favorite ministers of the king and stayed in a house near, where this temple of mahankali existed. Being the true disciples of Goddess Mahankali, Akkanna & Madanna performed pooja every day at the holy temple before they left for the court of golkonda for their day’s work. Soon after the demise of these two brothers, the temple was closed and it formed a part of the devdi of the Nawab, but there still existed the idol of Goddess mother deity, a few holy utensils of pooja and handful holy books safe inside waiting to be discovered.
After about a period of three long centuries at the time of the police action in 1948, did the goddess desire to reveal her and appeared in the dream of an old lady telling where the hidden temple of Mahankali existed. Having heard this from the old lady, a group of enthusiastic young men including the famous Arya Samaj Leader Mr. B. Venkat Swamy, Mr. A. Jangaih, Mr. A. Narhari, Mr. P. Bashiah & Mr. N. Venkaiah took the task of finding the temple into their hands. They made contact with late Mr. Mir Mohammed Anwar Ali Khaja of Balda, the owner of the Devdi where in the temple of Mahankali existed. Knowing about the temple Mr. Anwar Ali readily agreed to help them find it in his house, then after a while of digging, they found the temple hidden behind one of the Devdi’s walls. There they found the sacred idol of Mata, a Jyoti, some pooja utensils, few holy books & some old leaf cradles commonly called as Thotalas.
The kind Mr. Khaji Balda, in whose mansion this holy place was found permitted for a construction of the Mahankali temple to take place and contributed an area of 10 yards and an amount of 50 rupees for this purpose. After this day there started a step by step process of construction which was in many phases of building and renovation. The great souls who contributed a lot to this holy task were Late Mr. Nawada Muthaiah, Late Mr. Govind Rao Phatak, Late Mr. Dhan Raj Jain, Late Mr. Gridharilal Jain, Late Mr. Pukrajmal Jain, Late Mr. Harmohan Pershad, Late Mr. Rajaiah, Late Mr. K. Satyanarayana, Late Mr.Kasturi Venkaiah & Late Mr. Madasu Govind Rao. Later on with the dedication and interest of people like Mr. A. Jaingiah, Mr. V. Raja Shekhar, Mr. K. Krishna, Mr. A. Raghunandan, Mr. V. Laxminarayana, Mr. D. Raghunath, Mr. A. Padma Rao, Mr. P. Brahmananda Chary, Mr. Gunti Krishna & Mr. K. SukhdevArya, The temple saw various stages of development. One of the major contributions was made by Mr. A. Jaingiah who purchasing the adjacent land of 27.02 yards from Mrs. Rahmathunnisa Begum for a price of Rs. 21,000 on 28-05-1987.

Being found and developed with the help of the Devdi owner and other Muslim brothers in the locality, this Ancient Temple soon came to be known as the Symbol of Hindu - Muslim Unity. Having so many diverse religions and cultures, Hyderabad still stands as a rock hard emblem for its unity and the mahamkali temple being in old city, hosts the grand Mahankali Jatara procession in the fore front with the Matha Ghatam on the elephant.

Mr. G. Niranjan the current President of the temple committee and Mr. Veesamsetty Ayodhya Ramulu the Chaiman of the Akkanna Madanna Bhavanam Trust have made dynamic and wise contributions towards the expansion of the temple and have been successful in introducing various programmes during the Mahankali Festival. They every year organize an extraordinary photo exhibition of the various phases of the festivals taken place since the last 60 years.

With the grace and blessings of mother goddess, the benevolent Mahankali, we the members of the community of the temple, have not only been successful in bringing this ancient and forgotten temple into great lime light but also have served millions of devotees find their inner faith and the path to sanctity and sacredness.