Durga Stalin Offers Gold Crown And Sandalwood Grinder At Kerala’s Guruvayur Temple

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin’s wife Durga Stalin offered a gold crown worth over Rs 14 lakh at the Guruvayur Temple in Trissur, Kerala. Sources say a businessman from Coimbatore named Sivagyanam made the arrangements for making the crown for Durga Stalin.

Devaswom Chairman Dr VK Vijayan, Managing Committee Member C Manoj, Administrator K. P. Vinayan and Temple D. A. P. Manoj Kumar welcomed Durga to the temple.The gold crown weighs 32 sovereigns. Apart from the crown, Durga also donated a grinding machine which is used for grinding leftover sandalwood called ‘theya’ in local parlance.

This machine is worth 2 lakh rupees. Durga Stalin entered the temple along with her sister Jayanti today at 11.35 in the morning during the special noon pooja.

Earlier, the dimensions for manufacturing the crown were taken by the family. Before the ritual, the crown was handed over on a plantain leaf. Durga had ‘darshan’ of the idol decked with the crown and the noon flower decoration. Durga Stalin is known to be a staunch devotee of the deity in Guruvayur called Guruvayoorappan and has visited the temple several times.

Temple authorities informed media that ‘theya’ are lying in plenty in the temple is worth crores. The Devaswom board, the body in charge of the administration of the temple has no authority to sell or auction it as only the forest department has the authority to sell sandalwood. Even the temples do not have the authority to hand it over to any other temple.

“Sandalwood is purchased from the Devaswom Forest Department at Rs 17,000 per kg. But when it is returned as Theya to the forest department, it fetches Rs 1000 per kg. Due to this, theya has been stuck for years,” stated a top Devaswom Board Official.

Guruvayur Temple is believed to be the idol worshipped by Lord Krishna’s father Vasudeva himself. The ‘moorthy’ which is a four-armed Vishnu is worshipped as the manifest of Lord Krishna as a child or fondly called ‘unni Kannan’ (Krishna as an infant).

The Godhead is amongst the most visited pilgrimage site in the state. Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Late K Jayalalitha had offered an elephant to this temple in 2004. The deity was also known to be the favourite of MGR’s mother Maruthur Satyabhama.