Kerala temples monetise precious offerings, initiate farming to tide over revenue loss

Hit by the huge revenue loss owing to Covid-19, the gold treasure of temples in Kerala, including the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple, that was received as an offering from devotees, is being monetised.

This apart, the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) that manages 1250 temples in Kerala, has also initiated cultivation at around 3,000 acres of land attached to various temples and also initiated online offering booking and door delivery of Sabarimala prasadams through speed post to enhance its income sources.

Valuables like gold and silver received as offerings at temples under the board over these years are kept in various centralised lockers of the TDB. Only valuables required for routine rituals are kept at temples. A stock taking of the valuables initiated in 2017 is progressing under the supervision of Kerala High Court. The gold stock is roughly estimated to be over 1000 kilograms, Devaswon Board sources said.

Devaswaom Board president N Vasu said that the stock taking of gold and silver was almost over the and it would be deposited in RBI bonds after obtaining court's permission. The interest from the money thus raised would be used for meeting the expenses of the temples.

TDB sources said that since the gold received as offering was of different quality and forms, those were being melted and converted to bars for depositing in RBI bonds. The Guruvayur Sri Krishna Temple had earlier deposited gold with RBI.

Another additional revenue earning initiative of TDB is initiating various types of cultivation at around 3000 acres of land owned by various temples. Paddy, tapioca, fruit-bearing trees are flowers required for temple purposes are the key focus. The initiative is being carried out in association with agencies like Haritha Kerala Mission of Kerala government.

Many temples under the board already initiated online booking for offerings. The Sabarimala Ayyappa temple also launched a facility for door delivery of prasadams of the temple, including the much sought after 'Aravana' (sweet), through Speed Post at any where in India. Bookings could be made at post offices for the prasadam kit prices at Rs. 450.

The TDB was estimated to have suffered a revenue loss of over Rs. 300 crore so far. Of the 1250 temples under the board, many are having very low revenue only and are sustaining with the revenue earned from major temples like Sabarimala.