Officials of the Mahavir Temple count the money received as donation from devotees. Picture by Ashok Sinha

Patna, Aug. 12: The Mahavir temple in Patna, located near the Patna Railway Station, is one of the most visited temples in North India.

On an average, 10,000 devotees visit the temple everyday. On Saturdays and Tuesdays, when people from distant places come especially to worship Lord Hanuman, the number of worshippers at the temple easily crosses 20,000.

“It is a ‘manokamana’ mandir where the devotees’ come and pray to the lord. Their wishes often get fulfilled and this is the reason why the number devotees at the temple has only increased over the years,” said a priest at Hanuman Mandir.

Sudhanshu Shekhar, a devotee and a businessman from Delhi, said, “For the past five years, I have been visiting the temple regularly. Earlier, my business was not makingprofit. My friend asked me to visit the mahavir temple in Patna and soon after I started coming here, my business has started showing profit and has grown over the years.”

Former IPS officer and Bihar State Board of Religious Trusts chairman and secretary of Mahavir Mandir Trust Acharya Kishore Kunal said, “The Mahavir Mandir Trust is the second richest in North India after Vaishno Devi shrine trust. Many devotees donate here to show their dedication and devotion to Lord Hanuman”.

Acharya Kishore Kunal added, “The Mahavir Mandir trust organises medical camps, provides free medicines and subsidised treatment to a large number of poor and needy patients every year. All the cancer patients up to the age of 12 years are taken special care of by the temple trust and it spends more than Rs 2.5 crore per annum on philanthropic projects.”

“The present income of the temple is over Rs. 1 lakh per day, and the annual turnover is around Rs 4.15 crore. The total asset of the trust is almost Rs 100 crore,” said Nagendra Ojha, manager, Mahavir temple.

Its Naivedyam ladoos are making considerable profit for the trust. “It brings around Rs 1.2 crore every year,” said the manager. The Mahavir Mandir trust is presently running four hospitals in Patna. Among all, the Mahavir Cancer Sansthan is the most popular one. “It is one of the first trusts in North India where temple funds have been mostly utilised for philanthropic projects,” said Acharya Kishore.