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A temple in Tamil Nadu reportedly denied a devotee’s request to return his iPhone which he accidently dropped into the ‘hundi’ (donation box or hundial), asserting that it has now become temple property.
The devotee, identified as Dinesh, realised that his iPhone inadvertently slipped into the ‘hundi’ while he was making the donation at Arulmigu Kandaswamy temple in Thiruporur near Chennai.
He then approached temple officials and pleaded for the return of his phone. However, his request was met with a polite refusal.
Interestingly, the temple administration permitted Dinesh to retrieve the data from his Apple device, but declined to return the phone itself. Dinesh, however, stood firm, insisting on the phone’s return.
When the matter reached Karnataka minister PK Sekar Babu, he stated that any item deposited in the donation box of a temple, regardless of whether it was intentional or accidental, becomes part of the deity’s account.
“As per the practices and traditions of temples, offerings made in the donation box are considered the property of the deity. Rules do not allow us to return such offerings,” the minister explained.
Babu, during his inspection of ongoing temple construction and renovation projects, said that he would discuss the matter with department officials to explore the possibility of compensating the devotee.
In a similar incident, a devotee from Alappuzha in Kerala, accidentally dropped her 1.75 kg gold chain into the donation box of the Sri Dhandayuthapani Swamy Temple in Palani. The chain slipped into the offering box while she was removing a Tulasi garland from her neck to make an offering.
In that instance, considering her financial constraints and verifying the incident through CCTV footage, the chairman of the temple’s board of trustees purchased a new gold chain of equivalent value at his personal expense and returned it to her.
Notably, a senior HR & CE official said that, as per the Installation, Safeguarding, and Accounting of Hundial Rules, 1975, items deposited in the donation box cannot be returned, as they are deemed temple property.
