Earnings see an increase of Rs. 35 lakh from last counting taken up in January

Mysuru: The historic Sri Chamundeshwari Temple atop the Chamundi Hill in city has received a steady number of visitors in the last two months and the hundi offerings by devotees have seen increased collection.

When the counting of currency notes and coins were taken up recently, a total earnings of Rs. 1,68,66,208 was reported. Of that Rs. 3,27,320 are in the form of coins. Interestingly, more number of devotees offered Rs. 500 notes (Rs. 58,23,500) and Rs. 100 denomination notes (Rs. 56,41,400).

With the Temple revenue touching Rs. 1,68,66,888 in the last two months, the collection have crossed the Rs. 1 crore mark. However, in the hundi counting that was taken up in the last week of January this year, the Temple’s collection had crossed the Rs. 1 crore  mark twice in three months — November 2020, December 2020 and January 2021.

While the Temple had faced a dip in the revenues due to lockdown and the restrictions on devotees due to COVID-19 pandemic from March till October last year, the revenues                                             bounced back in November to cross the Rs. 1 crore mark during every counting.

In the hundi counting that was taken up on Jan. 28 (Dec. 17, 2020 to Jan. 27, 2021 – 42 days), a revenue of Rs. 1,33,25,302 was reported.  This time’s 45-day hundi counting has yielded Rs. 1,68,66,208, where an increase of Rs. 35 lakh has been reported.  

Speaking to reporters, Temple Executive Officer N.S. Yathiraj Sampathkumaran said that there has been an increase of Rs. 35 lakh in the earnings when compared to January counting.

“There has been a steady flow of devotees to the Temple and the Temple is witnessing increased footfall on Tuesdays and Fridays. While local residents prefer Tuesday and Friday Darshan, other days have witnessed devotees from far off places. This revenue increase is unexpected for us,” he said. 

The offerings were counted on Mar. 25 by a team at Dasoha Bhavan and the counting process went on for the whole day. Initially, the offerings were brought in many gunny bags to Dasoha Bhavan under the supervision of Temple Executive Officer Yathiraj Sampathkumaran, Police and the Manager of Karnataka Gramin Bank, Chamundi Hill. The entire proceeding of the hundi counting was video-recorded.