The Tirupati temple

Hyderabad, April 4: Tirupati devotees can now take home the blessings of Lord Venkateshwara, the temple’s famed laddu prasadam, by the bagful.

The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam, which runs the temple, earlier rationed out only two laddus for each devotee — each sweet costing Rs 25.

The good news is that the sweet — made of besan (powdered gram), sugar, ghee, cardamom, raisins and cashew nuts — will cost the same. Pilgrims wanting to take home the laddus for relatives and friends will not have to run after Devasthanam officials for extra helpings of the light-brown sweet. It will be available outside the temple for all to buy.

I.Y.R. Krishna Rao, the executive officer of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam, said: “Now anyone can purchase any quantity of laddu prasadam he wants.”

Rao, who has championed the cause of the common devotee from the day he took charge — he once stood in line for eight hours with other pilgrims for a darshan — could not have missed the commercial aspect of derationing the laddus, which now has a patent from the Registry of Geographical Indications. At least 1.5 lakh laddus are made everyday, the number doubling on special days and holidays.

Caught between the pressure of accommodating VIPs — politicians and movie stars are frequent visitors to Tirupati — and common devotees, the temple administration has hiked the rates of all services, including the darshan. A VIP will not have to wait too long in the queue but will have to pay 2.5 times the normal rate for the puja that a common pilgrim pays.

According to the temple’s recommendation, tickets for the Astadalapada Padmarajna seva would cost Rs 2,500 for VIPs, when for common devotees the charge is Rs 1,000.

“The logic is to make such sevas more costly to reduce its demand so that it will become easy and comfortable for the common devotees who seek general darshan,” says K.V. Ramanchari, the endowment secretary.