India is globally recognized as the ‘Land of Temples‘ and Indian are known to be immensely fanatic about their religion. India is also known as the land of Gods and Goddesses and therefore servers as an ideal option for pilgrims. Every year millions of visitors throng Indian temples owing to the rich heritage and cultural significance these temples carry. People of various religions and beliefs offer many precious assets to the temple as a token of their respect and faith.
Take a look at some of the richest temples of India.
Padmanabhaswamy Temple is credited with the title ‘The richest Temple in India’ and in the world as well. This temple is situated in the heart of thiruvananthapuram, kerala and has created history with its vast and enormous wealth that was retrieved from this temple recently.
This temple shot to fame on 7th July 2011, after the assests were discovered from 5 secret cellars of the temple where treasure worth more than Rs. 1,00,000 crore was found, that’s around US$22.3 billion in total, without even calculating the antique value of the objects. With this Padmanabhaswamy Temple became the richest temple beating the likes of the Tirupati Balaji temple that was till now touted to be the richest.
Interesting Fact
The treasure that was found
Antique gold ornaments
Sack full of Diamonds
Golden idol of Mahavishnu worth Rs. 500 Crore
Golden Crowns
Golden Bow
17 kg of gold coins(dating back to the East India Company period)
Gold in shape of rice trinkets(Weighing one tone! )
18 feet long golden necklace weighing 2.5 kg
Thousands of pieces of antique jewellery studded with diamonds and emeralds
Golden Vessels
Tirupati temple is the most sacred and second richest temple of India. It is situated in Andra Pradesh and is the major pilgrimage destination of South India also known as ‘Tirupati Balaji Temple.’ Lord Balaji is worshipped in this temple, popular bollywood actor Amitabh Bachhan is a devotee of the diety and has reportedly donated around Rs 51 lakh to this temple.
Interesting Facts
Tirupati’s Venkateswara deity is clad with about 1000kgs of gold!
Every day around 150,000 laddus are made at the temple to serve the devotess
The revenue from the sale of laddu annually is more than 11 million rupees.
It is said that people drop bags of gold and at times even diamonds at the feet of Sri Venkateshwara.
Around 50,000 pilgrims visit the temple every day and
The temple gets up to Rs 650 crore in donations every year.
Saibaba Temple, Shirdi
Sai temple of Shirdi is among the top pilgrimage sites of the world. This temple is a beautiful shrine that was built in 1922. The temple is located approximately 296 Kilometers from Mumbai City in India. It is the third wealthiest temple in India where millions of devotees of different religions and castes visit everyday. Shirdi is flocked by devotees and curious tourists who journey to this holy land of Shri Saibaba. The temple has gold and silver jewellery worth approximately Rs 32 crore and silver coins worth more than Rs 6 lakh.
Interesting Fact
Like most of the perfect saints Sai Baba left no authentic record of his birth and early life before arriving at Shirdi. Nobody knows weather was Hindu, Muslim or Christian. So people of all religion visit shirdi.
On an average there is an inflow of over 40,000 devotees which reaches to a million during festivals.
The temple gets donations worth Rs 350 crore every year.
Siddhivinayak, Mumbai
The Siddhivinayak Temple is located in Prabhadevi, Dadar, Mumbai, Maharashtra. It was originally built by Mr. Laxman Vithu and Mrs. Deubai Patil in November 19th, 1801. Well known celebrities and VIPs visiting this temple is a common sight here. The dome over Ganesha is coated in 3.7 kilos of gold that was donated by a Kolkata-based businessman. On an average, the monumental Siddhivinayak Temple sees anywhere between 25,000 to 2 lakh devotees flocking in everyday to just get a glimpse of their beloved Ganesha. Sources at the Shirdi Saibaba Sansthan put their annual income at Rs 320 crore
Golden Temple, Punjab
Golden temple which is commonly known as Harmindher Sahib is located in Amritsar, Punjab and it attracts thousands of pilgrims from all over the country and world. The charismatic Golden temple is a prominent pilgrimage destination which is fully alive with religious passion and purity. This unique and charming place becomes even more beautiful and captivating during night time when it is completely lit up with its striking gold dome illuminated.
The holiest shrine in the Sikh religion has its walls decorated with wooden panels and elaborates gold and silver work. A combination of Muslim, Hindu and European design principles were used in the construction of Golden temple .The palanquin that bears the Adi Granth is set with precious stones and has a golden canopy supported by silver poles. This holy place gets as many as 40,000 visitors a day.
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