A number of prominent temples in the Sangam city, including Alop Shankari Devi, Bade Hanuman, and Mankameshwar, have announced the restriction. The move is to ensure purity and safety of the offerings by protecting the traditions of the temple.
Amid outrage over ‘adulterated‘ laddus offered at the Tirupati Temple in Andhra Pradesh, temple authorities in Uttar Pradesh’s Prayagraj have banned devotees from bringing sweets and other processed items for offerings and instead urged them to bring coconut. The restrictions have been announced by several prominent temples in Sangam city, including Alop Shankari Devi, Bade Hanuman, and Mankameshwar.
Reactions From Priests
Shiv Murat Mishra, chief priest of the famous Lalita Devi temple of Prayagraj said that in the meeting of our temple management held on Tuesday, it was decided that the prasad of sweets will not be offered to the goddess in the temple but devotees have been requested to offer coconut, fruits, dry fruits, cardamom etc. The first plan is to open shops in the temple premises itself where pure sweets will be available to devotees.
Yamuna Puri Maharaj, chief patron of the Alop Shankari Devi Temple and secretary of Shri Panchayati Akhara Mahanirvani said devotees are not allowed to bring sweets and prasad from outside. Mahant Shridharanand Brahmachari Ji Maharaj of the Mankameshwar temple located on the Yamuna bank said, “After the Tirupati controversy, we have banned bringing prasad from outside to Mankameshwar temple.”. We have written a letter to the district magistrate to get the ‘laddu-peda’ available in shops outside the temple tested,” said Katha Mahant Bhagwat Prasad Das. Lucknow temple bans market-bought offerings
In the early hours of Monday, another prominent temple in Lucknow, Mankameshwar, too banned ‘prasad’ being offered that is bought from outside and made it clear they will allow homemade ‘prasad’ or fruits. The temple managements are also opting for such steps to make the prasad being offered at the temples pure. They are thinking of quality checks as well as developing their own production houses for prasad, if required.
Also read: Tirupati Laddu Controversy: Andhra Pradesh Govt Forms Sit To Probe Allegations Of Ghee Adulteration
Tirupati Laddu Row
It has to be noted that this is reflective of growing awareness about the safety and authenticity of offerings in the aftermath of the Tirupati laddu row. Ruckus over Tirupati laddus started brewing after the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, N Chandrababu Naidu claimed that substandard ingredients and animal fat was used for the preparation when there was a YS Jagan Mohan Reddy-led government. In retaliation, Naidu has been accused by the YSRCP of making “heinous allegations” to score political points.
