In a bizarre incident in Tamil Nadu’s Chennai recently, a devotee’s request has been turned down, who accidentally dropped his iPhone in the donation box, referred to as ‘Hundi.’ Responding to his request to give his mobile phone back, the temple authorities denied his plea, saying, once something is placed in the hundi, it belongs to the deity.
Notably, the devotee was identified as Dinesh, who accidentally dropped his iPhone in the hundi of the Arulmigu Kandaswamy temple while he was donating. He approached the temple administration pleading with them to get it back. However, the Tamil Nadu Hindu religious and charitable endowments department politely dismissed his request and said the phone was now a property of the temple.
Dinesh then approached the officials of the temple to get his phone back. Meanwhile, the temple administration on Friday, December 21, 2024, contacted him after opening the offering box of the temple. They told him that his phone was found in the box and he could retrieve the data but couldn’t get it back.
What the Minister of HR and CE Said?
Dinesh refused the offer by the temple’s administration, urging them to get his phone back. Following the incident, PK Sekar Babu, the Minister of Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments, was contacted to solve the matter. But the minister said, “Anything that is deposited into the offering box, even if it be an arbitrary action, goes into the god’s account.”
The minister further told the media that the practices and tradition at the temples, any offerings made into the hundi, directly go to the deity of that temple. Rules do not permit the administration to return the offerings back to the devotees.
Meanwhile, the minister further said that the issue would be discussed with the department officials to decide whether to compensate the devotee.
Recent Similar Cases
He shared that this is not the first time the incident has happened. Earlier in May 2023, a devotee named S. Sangeetha from Kerala dropped her 1.75 sovereign gold chain into the offering box of the Sri Dhandayuthapani Swamy temple in Palani.
In the CCTV footage, it was also detected that she had accidentally dropped her chain. Meanwhile, upon considering the financial condition of the devotee, the chairman of the temple provided her with a new gold chain of the same value on his personal expense.
Additionally, the installation, safeguarding, and accounting of the Hundi rules of 1975 noted that any offerings made into Hundi become permanent temple property and cannot be returned to the original owner.
Kanishka Malhotra is a seasoned journalist with a deep passion for reporting and uncovering the truth. With a specialization in research and investigative Journalism, she has covered wide range of topics related to social issues, travel, lifestyle, technology, Entertainment and much more. She believes to express and share her creativity to the world through words. With relentless pursuit of knowing and uncovering the truth, Kanishka continues to leave a mark in the world of journalism.
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