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The temple authorities denied the devotees plea, saying once something is placed in the hundi, it “belongs to the deity”.
A devotee accidently dropped his iPhone into the hundial of a temple. (File Photo)
A temple in Tamil Nadu’s Chennai recently turned down a devotee’s request to retrieve his iPhone after he accidentally dropped it 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”.
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The devotee, identified as Dinesh, approached the officials of the Sri Kandaswamy temple, Thiruporur, and pleaded that his iPhone which inadvertently fell into the offering box by mistake be returned to him.
Notably, the temple authorities contacted him on Friday after opening the offering box and said that the gadget was found in the hundial. However, he could only retrieve the data from it, but Dinesh refused to accept and insisted that his phone be returned to him.
When this issue was taken to the notice of the HR & CE Minister PK Sekar Babu on Saturday he replied “anything that is deposited into the offering box, even if it be an arbitrary action, goes into god’s account.”
“As per the practises and tradition at the temples, any offerings made into the hundial directly goes into the account of the deity of that temple. Rules do not permit the administration to return the offerings back to the devotees,” Babu was quoted by news agency PTI.
He would discuss with the department officials to see if there was any possibility to compensate the devotees and accordingly make a decision, the Minister said.
This incident is not the first such one in the state. According to a senior HR & CE official a devotee S Sangeetha from Alappuzha in Kerala unwittingly dropped her 1.75 sovereign gold chain into the hundial of the renowned Sri Dhandayuthapani Swamy temple in Palani in May 2023.
The gold chain fell into the hundial when she removed the Tulasi garland around her neck to make an offering. However, considering her financial background and after confirming through CCTV footages that the chain had fallen by accident, the chairman of the temple board of trustees bought a new gold chain of same value at his personal expense and gave it to her.