Hampi temple bans bananas to prevent overfeeding of elephant

Hampi (Karnataka): A 7th-century shrine of Lord Shiva in Hampi has banned bananas in its premises, stating that devotees tend to overfeed the temple elephant as well as litter the place of worship with banana peels.

The management of Virupaksha temple said on Thursday that they decided on the ban for the good of the temple, the elephant as well as the devotees.

"We saw that the devotees get overzealous in their attempts to feed the elephant, which is not only harmful to the elephant concerned, but it also makes the place very dirty. The devotees leave behind banana peels and even the plastic bags that they bring the bananas in," said Hanaumantappa, temple endowment officer, to PTI.

The temple authorities also said ever since the reports of the ban came out, they have been getting a lot of calls asking about the ban.

Hanaumantappa appealed to people not to take the banana ban out of context and make it into a controversy.

"This is a local matter. We made the decision based purely on what was happening inside our temple premises," added Hanaumantappa.

Virupaksha temple is often referred to as 'Dakshin Kashi' and it sees at least 5,000 devotees every day. On special days and weekends, the crowd surges further, reaching even 50,000 a day, said sources from the temple.