HYDERABAD: Devotees of Lord Venkateswara of Tirumala and goddess Gnana Prasoonambika Devi in Srikalahasti are up in arms over the offerings made by remand prisoner No. 697 - G Janardhana Reddy, former Karnataka BJP minister, who is cooling his heels at the Chanchalguda jail - and are terming them 'tainted.'
Devotees of the two deities staged protests in the temple town of Tirupati on Tuesday, and demanded that the Rs 45-crore diamond-studded golden crown donated by Janardhana Reddy to Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) in June 2009 be returned to him, confiscated by the government, or simply not be part of the deities' possessions.
"The Lord can do without the tainted offerings of the corrupt mining baron. We do not want the crown to be present in the temple for even a minute," said R Lingeswara Rao, a devotee of Lord Venkateswara, present at the rally.
The Reddy brothers, especially Janardhana, have been known to make expensive donations to temples, including jewel-encrusted crowns, jewellery and gold ornaments. Soon after Jaganmohan Reddy, son of former AP chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy, won the Kadapa byelection, Janardhana, who counts Jagan among his friends, went and donated a magnificent diamond-studded crown worth Rs 12 crore to Prasoonambika, consort of Lord Srikalahasteeswara, presiding deity at the Srikalahasti temple, in May 2011.
Devotees of the deities are upset by the temple's practice of adorning the Lord with the 'tainted crown' every Friday. "The crown could be the most significant contribution to Lord's ever-growing wealth in gifts, but the Lord of Kalyuga would not be comfortable with the riches offered by the mining baron," said Congress leader P Navin Kumar Reddy. The crown is "polluting the sacred ambience of the sanctum sanctorum" and TTD should not play with devotees' emotions. We will intensify our protests if the TTD does not return the offerings, or urge the government to take possession of them".
The crown is 2.5 feet tall and weighs 30 kg. It took nine months for workers to craft it. The crown is studded with 800 diamonds and a green emerald sourced from South Africa.
Devotees of the two deities staged protests in the temple town of Tirupati on Tuesday, and demanded that the Rs 45-crore diamond-studded golden crown donated by Janardhana Reddy to Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) in June 2009 be returned to him, confiscated by the government, or simply not be part of the deities' possessions.
"The Lord can do without the tainted offerings of the corrupt mining baron. We do not want the crown to be present in the temple for even a minute," said R Lingeswara Rao, a devotee of Lord Venkateswara, present at the rally.
The Reddy brothers, especially Janardhana, have been known to make expensive donations to temples, including jewel-encrusted crowns, jewellery and gold ornaments. Soon after Jaganmohan Reddy, son of former AP chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy, won the Kadapa byelection, Janardhana, who counts Jagan among his friends, went and donated a magnificent diamond-studded crown worth Rs 12 crore to Prasoonambika, consort of Lord Srikalahasteeswara, presiding deity at the Srikalahasti temple, in May 2011.
Devotees of the deities are upset by the temple's practice of adorning the Lord with the 'tainted crown' every Friday. "The crown could be the most significant contribution to Lord's ever-growing wealth in gifts, but the Lord of Kalyuga would not be comfortable with the riches offered by the mining baron," said Congress leader P Navin Kumar Reddy. The crown is "polluting the sacred ambience of the sanctum sanctorum" and TTD should not play with devotees' emotions. We will intensify our protests if the TTD does not return the offerings, or urge the government to take possession of them".
The crown is 2.5 feet tall and weighs 30 kg. It took nine months for workers to craft it. The crown is studded with 800 diamonds and a green emerald sourced from South Africa.
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