Adilabad temple: Emerald is missing from deity's crown

A valuable emerald from the crown belonging to Goddess Gnana Saraswathi of Basara temple in Adilabad district went missing recently. This was gifted by a devotee from Hyderabad in 2006. The endowments department of Telangana has ordered a probe.

The issue came to light after a few devotees noticed that the emerald was missing and questioned the priests and temple officials. They brought it to the notice of temple executive officer Sandhya Rani who assured to take action against those responsible. The temple priests said they did not notice the missing of the stone, and that the stone might have fallen off probably when the crown accidentally fell.

However, the temple officials said the priests have to check the ornaments every day when they open and close the temple and maintain the records of all the ornaments that adorn the goddess. ”They have to bring to the notice of the officials when something is found missing,” an endowments officer said. Endowments minister P Indrakaran Reddy ordered a probe and directed the officials to take action against those guilty.

Derived from the word Vyasa Basara, the temple is situated on the banks or river Godavari, and is considered the second biggest Saraswati temple in the country, the first being in Jammu and Kashmir.

Thousands visit this temple to perform Aksharabhyasam (initiation to formal learning) to their wards during the months of May-June. Earlier, the temple was in controversy over its priests taking the festival statues to a private school to perform mass Aksharabhyasams.