Praying for the early recovery of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa, a group of people from Tamil Nadu visited the Chamundi Hills on Friday and offered gold and silver articles worth about Rs. 1.61 crore to the Ganesha and Hanuman deities here. Temple authorities said the donations have been registered in the names of Sri Jaya Publications, Chennai, and the Kodanad Estate, Nilgiris.
Articles comprising 1,689 grams of gold and 4,852 grams of silver, together valued at Rs. 42,29,614, have been donated to the Ganesha idol by Sri Jaya Publications. The Kodanad Estate donated articles made of 4,710 grams of gold and 14,980 grams of silver to the Hanuman idol, which are valued at Rs. 1,18,47,543, according to information sourced from the temple office. The donations were recorded in the temple registry after their valuation by a local jeweller.
Special puja The head priest of the Sri Chamundeshwari Temple, Shashishekar Dixit, told The Hindu that five persons, including those from Sri Jaya Publications, Chennai, visited the temple and performed a special puja for the speedy recovery of Ms. Jayalalithaa, who is undergoing treatment at Apollo Hospitals in Chennai.
Speaking to The Hindu , Temple Executive Officer K.M. Prasad said the articles had been donated to the temple office on Thursday and the idols were decorated with them on Friday. Special pujas were performed to the deities of Ganesha, found at the entrance to the main temple, and Hanuman, located in front of the sanctum sanctorum, after adorning them with the gold and silver articles, which included a gold kavacham for the Hanuman idol, a gold crown for the Ganesha idol, silver prabhavali and other adornments. He added that the donors had taken the size of the idols about ten years ago, and the gold and silver articles have been crafted accordingly.
Temple sources said Ms. Jayalalithaa has visited the temple on a couple of occasions in recent years and offered prayers to the deity. Her last visit to the temple was in 2011, when she turned 63.
