India is a country of beautiful temples that are centers of art, culture and charity. One thing that is common to all temples is the offering they make. Each temple has a special offering to God, some of which is truly unique.
Sometimes there will be an interesting story about why a particular type of offering is offered in a particular temple. In this post you can see what are some of the unique offerings offered in Indian temples.
Mata Vaishnavo Devi, Katra, Jammu
Here you will find two types of offerings. First is Misri’s small pocket, which is engraved with a small silver coin of the gods. The second offering commonly available here is a mixture of boiled rice, dried apple, dried coconut and cardamom.
Kamakya Temple, Guwahati
The sacred offering here comes in two forms – Angotak and Angopastra. They refer to the liquid part of the body, which is holy water from the fountain, which is offered to the devotees.
Sri Venkateswara Temple, Tirupati
Tirupati Laddu is also known as Sri Wari Laddu, which is offered to Venkateswara. Made with ghee, sugar, oil, flour, cardamom and dried nuts, this offering has been offered to the deity for the past 300 years. The Laddu GI Act 1999 is registered as a geographical code under food items. Laddus are made by special priests called ‘Achas’.
Baidyanath Temple, Deogarh
The temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva and the offering to the deity is a mixture of sura (flat rice), cardamom and beta. The city of Deogarh is famous for its variety of pods containing cardamom, saffron and nuts.
Jagannath Temple, Puri
Popularly known as Mahaprasad, it contains 56 food items donated to Jagannath. Mahaprasad is of two types. One is called Sangudi Mahaprasad and the other is called Sukila Mahaprasad. The first offering includes tasty dishes, the second includes only desserts.
Kabees Baba Temple, Sitapur
The temple is located in the Sitapur district of Uttar Pradesh, but there is no deity or priest in this temple. Also, the offerings offered here are wine. According to historians, alcohol was given to a monk who lived here 150 years ago, and after giving alcohol to a monk, devotees take a portion of it as an offering.
Golden Temple, Amritsar
Made of flour, ghee, sugar, and water, the famous offering of the Golden Temple is called ‘Kada Prasad’. Apart from this, they also offer langar, which includes bread, lentils, rice and sabzi, which are available daily free of cost to all devotees.
Chinese Kali Temple, Kolkata
Foods like noodles, sap sui and fried rice are offered to Goddess Kali here. It is believed that the temple was built 60 years ago after an immigrant from China dreamed of Goddess Kali, after which he began to build the temple along with other places.
Srinathji Temple, Rajasthan
Located in Nathwara, Rajasthan, this temple is dedicated to Lord Srinath, where offerings of matadi, a type of deep fried pastry, are then dipped into a well of sugar syrup. For those who do not have a sweet tooth, a delicious variety called ‘Thor’ is also offered.
Parasinikkadavu Temple, Kannur
The temple is world famous and wine and fish are offered to the deity here. After the daily puja, all these items are offered to the devotees. According to the report, green lentils and coconut pieces are distributed to devotees here.
Thandayuthapani Swamy Temple, Palani, Tamil Nadu
Palani Panchamirtham, the famous offering of the temple is a combination of five natural ingredients – banana, jaggery, cow ghee, honey and cardamom, pears and caraway. This is the first Tamil offering to receive the Geographical Indication (GI) tag in 2019.
