Tirupati laddu row: Prayagraj temples ask devotees to offer coconut, fruits instead of sweets

Prayagraj: Temple authorities here have banned devotees from bringing sweets and other processed items for offerings and instead urged them to bring coconut, fruits and dry fruits, amid outrage over 'adulterated' laddus offered at the Tirupati Temple in Andhra Pradesh.

Several prominent temples in the Sangam city, including Alop Shankari Devi, Bade Hanuman, and Mankameshwar, have announced these restrictions.

Shiv Murat Mishra, the chief priest of the famous Lalita Devi temple of Prayagraj, said, "In the meeting of our temple management held on Tuesday, it was decided that 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."

He said there is a plan to open shops in the temple premises itself where pure sweets are made available to the devotees.

Yamuna Puri Maharaj, chief patron of the Alop Shankari Devi Temple and secretary of Shri Panchayati Akhara Mahanirvani, said devotees have been banned from bringing 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 the shops outside the temple tested.” “Until the purity of the sweets is clear in the investigation, they will not be allowed to be offered in the temple. Anyway, we believe in fruits more than sweets,” he said.

Mahant Balbir Giri Ji Maharaj, the patron of the Bade Hanuman temple located on the Sangam coast and head of the Shrimath Baghambari Gaddi, said, “After the construction of the corridor of the temple is completed, the temple management itself will prepare 'laddu-peda' prasad for the Shri Bade Hanuman temple.” Earlier on Monday, the famous Mankameshwar temple in Lucknow has also banned offerings of 'prasad' bought by devotees from outside and said they can offer homemade 'prasad' or fruits.

The temple management is also taking steps to ensure the purity of prasad offered on the site, with plans to conduct quality checks and potentially establish their own prasad production facilities.

This move reflects a growing concern for the safety and authenticity of offerings, particularly in the wake of the Tirupati laddu row.

The row over Tirupati laddus erupted after Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu claimed that substandard ingredients and animal fat were used in their preparation during the previous YS Jagan Mohan Reddy-led government. The YSRCP, in turn, has accused Naidu of indulging in "heinous allegations" for political gains.

Naidu subsequently announced a Special Investigation Team to probe these claims.