Telangana: Auspicious ‘Moola Nakshatra’ fetches Rs 29 lakh for Basar temple

Executive Officer says the temple earned an income of Rs 16.21 lakh by selling 1,621 special 'Aksharabhyasam' tickets each costing Rs 1,000

Nirmal: The ancient Sri Gnana Saraswathi Devasthanam of Basar earned Rs 29.94 lakh through charges of various services and donations made by devotees in view of the auspicious ‘Moola Nakshatra’ as part of the ongoing Navratri festivities on Wednesday.

Executive Officer of the shrine Vijayarama Rao, in a statement, said the temple earned Rs 16.21 lakh by selling 1,621 special ‘Aksharabhyasam‘ tickets each costing Rs 1,000, Rs 1.01 lakh by sales of general ‘Aksharabhyasam’ tickets, Rs 4.05 lakh through sales of ‘Abhishekam’ laddu and Rs 3.12 lakh by selling normal laddu.

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The shrine witnessed a revenue of Rs 2.47 lakh by way of sales of special darshan tickets, while sales of ‘pulihora‘ fetched Rs 1.64 lakh. Devotees presented donations worth Rs 16,000 and copper coins worth Rs 8,000, the temple thus earning a total of Rs 29,94,850.

Tens of hundreds of devotees from not only several parts of Telangana, but the neighbouring Maharashtra also thronged the shrine and performed special prayers. They conducted ‘Aksharabhyasam’ or initiation into the world of alphabets. They earlier had a holy dip in Godavari river and had darshan of the deity.

Elaborate arrangements including temporary queue lines, shades, parking lots and special venues for ‘Aksharabyasham’ were made for smooth conduct of the festivities. The TGRTC operated special buses from Nirmal and Nizamabad to Basar for the convenience of the devotees.