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| Tirupati-Tirumala temple, goldplated vimana.Temples of India |
Indian temples are not only an epitome of our artistic, architectural and cultural heritage, but also storehouses of vast treasures in terms of gold, diamond, precious stone-studded ornaments, silver vessels, land holdings, etc. They have acquired the wealth through ages by way of donations from rich rulers, landholders, and others. The vast highly stone carved ornate interior parts of the temples with life-size stone sculptures and the huge tall towers made of hard stone may stagger the visitors. So does the volume of wealth owned by many Hindu temples. It is just mind-blowing and shows the devotion and abiding trust people have in the Almighty for better life and peace of mind and their donations, be they small or big, help the temples increase the worth of their trust and, at the same time, maintain the temple and take care the daily pujas, temple festivals, etc. The Sri Ananda Padmanabha Swamy Temple in Thiruvanathapuram, Kerala state and Tirumala Tirupati Venkateswara (Balaji) Temple in Andhra are the richest temples in the world and their trusts together are worth more than $ 50 billion dollars; in the former case, the antique values are not taken into account, besides yet another underground vault is not yet opened and audited. No body knows the worth of valuables inside the unopened vault at the Kerala temple. he Kerala temple is not a Prarthana Sthalam where the devotees fulfil their prayers. Hence the hundial collections (daily collection) is not that much. Inside the temple, even today they avoid electric lighting and use oil lamps as much as possible. On the other hand the Tirupati temple is a major pilgrimage center, a well-known Prarthana Sthalam; hence daily hundial collection is vast.
Tirupati Balaji temple or Venkateshwara Swamy temple is one of the most popular ones in India and is the most visited temple in this country. Located on the seventh peak of the Tirumala Hills in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, the temple is dedicated to lord Vishnu; the deity goes by he name of Balaji, Srinivasa and Venkatesa. His consort Lakshmi is adorned in the temple at near-by Alamelumanga Puram. Tirupati Balaji temple is the world’s richest temple because of the vast amount of donation it receives daily from the pilgrims. However, the Sri Ananda Padmanabha Swamy Temple in Thiruvanathapuram owns treasures, etc., worth more than $ 25 billion (the real value may be two or three times higher (?)
The following are the fascinating facts about Tirumala Tirupati Venkateswara Temple's wealth, etc:
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| Tirupati Balaji temple. tourmet.com |
01. The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam Temple Trust is one of the richest in the world. The annual income exceeded Rs. 1000.00 crores, roughly three crores per day.
02. The donated money is counted in the name of Paragamani and is deposited with the nationalized banks.
03. The interest on the deposits is used to provide free food to the devotes daily, in addition, other facilities.
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| CM K. Chandrasekhar Rao Gifts Jewelry to Tirupati Temple, Invites India West |
etc., increases as days go by and they are properly recorded under the Trust.
05. Sri Krishna Deva Raya, ruler of Vijayanagara donated vast amount of gold, precious stones, other jewelry. The gopuram (tower above the sanctum) was gold plated during his period. It is believed the Temple Trust owns roughly 14 tons of gold.
06. The idols - both Moolavar and Utchavar (Procession idol) here have their own set of jewelry. The idol - Moolavar has seven highly valuable
and artistically designed diamond crowns to
be worn on certain important occasions. During Thirumanjanam / abhishakam (periodic anointing), the lord wears a diamond crown gifted by his father-in-law Thirumalairajan and it weighs 9.7 kilos. Besides, there are crowns weighing 20 to 30 kg.
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| Titupati temple, diamond crown for the deity. YouTube |
08. Moolavar is daily adorned with 63 to 79 kg gold jewels. Each set of jewelry has a duplicate one.
09. By way of interest on the jewels deposited, Tirupati Perimal becomes richer by 56 kg every year. Besides, though undial collections from the public, gold jewelry worth 500 to 600 ks are added to the trust each yea. They get converted into gold biscuits and are deposited with the banks.
The trust runs countless choulties/ hostels with good amenities for the comfortable stay of the devotees and they charge very nominal fee per day.
10. If you sum up the weight of the gold ornaments and jewelry among other items made for the presiding deity, the total would be a whopping 11 ton.
11.The various deities in the temple garbagraha is clad (alangaram) with 1000 kgs of gold jewelry!
12. Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) officials in December 2015 itself indicated that 4.5 tonnes of gold had been deposited in banks and that the temple administration was in the process of depositing one more ton of the yellow metal in the State Bank of India soon.
13. The gold that the Tirumala temple has been depositing in banks are offering by devotees in the hundi as well as big individual donations. They come in the form of various gold ornaments as well as biscuits. TTD began depositing gold in 2010. Since then, on maturity of the gold deposits, the temple administration converts the interest amount too into gold which is then added to the pile already there with the banks.
14. The three gold deposits made earlier in 2010, 2011 and 2014 total 4.5 tonnes. The largest single deposit made so far by the temple administration was 1,800kg in August 2014 with the SBI. The TTD (vide decision taken in Feb. 2017) has deposited 2,780 Kg of gold with the State Bank of India under the Long Term Gold Deposit Scheme.Of this 2,075 Kg of gold deposits has been converted into the Long Term Deposit Scheme at a rate of 2.5 per cent per annum for a period of 12 years (at 2.5% interest) from the date of investment under the Gold Monetization Scheme. Last year, 2016 gold weighing 1311 kg was deposited with Punjab national bank.
15. Over 10 million people offer their hair (tonsuring of head) at the Tirupati Temple annually, which generates an income of over Rs 2 billion. The hair is used in cosmetics and as hair extensions. The selling of hair adds more than $ 6 million to the treasury of the temple!
16. The main idol of the deity has a the depiction of Lakshmi on it. Each day, it is covered with sandalwood paste and when peeled out, it has imprints of the goddess on it. This is then sold by the temple authorities to the devotees and this generates income for the temple.
17. In 2009, the Tirupati Laddus got geographical indication tag, as a sign of the product being used in the particular geographical location. Every day around 150,000 laddus are made at the temple to serve the devotees. The revenue from the sale of laddu annually is more than 11 million rupees
18. "In September 2010, temple authorities got a 52,000 crore rupees insurance cover on the jewelry belonging to the temple. Also it is the said that the temple receives $120 million in cash and tons of gold every year. In 2010 the temple deposited 1,075 kg of gold and in February 2011 deposited another 1,175 kg of gold with State Bank of India. The temple has about $11 billion worth of properties. That is a pretty good estimate" . https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-total-wealth-of-Tirupathi
19. The temple is said to have 20 tonnes of gold and diamond jewelry and some of them date back to the 12th century.
20. A couple of years ago, one Karnataka minister Gali Janardhan Reddy had offered a diamond-studded crown worth Rs 42 crore ( rougkly $ 7 million) to the God.
21. Around 75,000 to 100,000 pilgrims visit the temple every day, depending on the season and the Devasthnam (temple authority) is doing yeomen service by way of providing the needed facilities for the pilgrims. This year the annual hundi collection crossed Rs. 1000.00 crore mark.
22. In terms of its worth, Tirumala will easily surpass ONGC (Public oil and gas company owned by the Indian government) which has a cover of USD 26 billion.
23. Other revenue sources include the Rs 300 special entry darshan, that may fetch a minimum of Rs 256 crore for the financial year, Rs 124 crore from hostal accommodations and Rs 55 crore through Arjitha Seva (puja)tickets
http://zeenews.india.com/business/news/finance/tirupati-temple-to-get-rs-52k-cr-cover_12518.html
http://www.business-standard.com/article/current-affairs/richest-hindu-temple-tirupathi-balaji-deposits-2-780-kg-of-gold-with-sbi-117082900212_1.html
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