The Devi Navaratri festivities are fast approaching, and the Sri Durga Malleswara Swamyvarla Devasthanam here has the onerous task of catering to the varied needs of the devotees, one of them is making available the much sought-after laddu prasadam.
With 16 lakh devotees expected to have darshan of the presiding deity this year, the devasthanam plans to prepare 23.22 lakh laddus.
Officials say the demand for the laddu prasadam may witness a new high as the pilgrim turnout may swell on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, and on the ‘Moola Nakshatram’ day.
Keeping this in mind, the officials, if need be, are gearing up to make available 25 lakh laddus.
As per the estimates, 4,500 ‘kalayees’ (a big vessel) of laddus are required as every devotee returning after darshan of goddess Kanaka Durga longs to distribute them among his or her friends and relatives back home.
No wonder, the sale of laddu has been touching a new high year after year.
In 2017, the temple had sold 17.21 lakh laddus during the nine-day festival. The number of laddus sold was 10.47 lakh in 2009 and 14 lakh in 2010. In the subsequent year, the authorities had made arrangements to sell one lakh laddus every day and three lakh laddus on the ‘Moola Nakshatram’ day.
The devasthanam also plans to prepare 25,000 kg of ‘pulihora’ for sale and another 20,000 kg for distribution among the devotees free of cost.
It is planned to sell 5.75 lakh ‘pulihora’ packets through the 15 prasadam counters being opened exclusively for the festival.
Though ‘pulihora’ is the sought-after prasadam on normal days, it is less preferred during the festival days. This is because the shelf life of laddu is longer compared to that of ‘pulihora’.
On normal days, about 30,000 to 40,000 laddus are sold every day. The sale of laddus touches 80,000 on Fridays and Sundays. In contrast, the sale of ‘pulihora’ is about 15 quintals per day, say officials.