10 Years of Telangana: 6,661 temples shine under Dhoopa Deepa Naivadyam

HYDERABAD: Temples big and small in Telangana will illuminate and the deities will be offered with Naivaidyam under the Dhoopa Deepa Naivaidyam scheme, being implemented by the endowments department.

As part of the ongoing decennial ceremonies, the endowments department has decided to add 2,043 more temples to the existing list of 3,645 temples, taking the total number to 6,661, under the scheme.

The scheme will ensure that the presiding deities of these temples are offered proper ‘naivaidyam’ and other mandatory rituals such as lighting gingelly oil lamps and camphor every single day. Many temples were deprived of a minimum of financial help from the erstwhile governments and struggled to survive with the donations made by the local devotees.

Endowments Minister Allola Indrakaran Reddy who will be taking part in the ‘Spiritual Day’ (Adhyatmika Diwas) celebrations at Yadadri on Wednesday, June 21, 2023, will officially declare the extension of the scheme to 2,043 temples. Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao has already announced a hike in emoluments paid to Dhupa Deepa Naivaidya temple priests from Rs 6,000 per month to Rs 10,000. The hike will be implemented very soon.

The minister will also launch the distribution of free millet prasadam to devotees at Yadadri temple, launch the sale of gold and silver coins of Sri Yadadri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy, inaugurate online ticket booking service, lay the foundation to Rayagiri veda school and inaugurate annadana satram and the kalyana mandapam built near presidential suite.

In addition, all the temples in the state will be decorated with flowers and garlands made out of auspicious mango leaves. The temples will reverberate with vedic chants, rituals such as abhishekas and homas and literary cultural events like hari kathas and Kavi sammelanams and so on.