India is a potpourri of religious beliefs and cultural diversity. Due to immense faith, respect and devotion of people, they like to make hefty offerings to religious places, in cash and kind. Here we take a look at such rich temples across India. The donated wealth becomes the possession of a Temple Trust and is then used in renovating and maintaining the temples. You would be surprised to know what exorbitant sums of money are earned by these temples in a year.
8 Richest Temples in India
1. Padmanabhaswamy Temple
The Padmanabhaswamy Temple Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala is the richest temple in the country. Here a Golden Statue was found, which is worth Rs. 500 crores. The shrine has 6 vaults of Gold, containing a total wealth of around $20 billion. Their unimaginable possessions include gold crowns, gold bow, antique jewellery, diamonds and emeralds.
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2. Tirumala Tirupati Venkateswara Temple
It is the second richest temple in the country. Every day about 60,000 devotees come to seek the blessings of Lord Venkateswara, whose idol is clad with 1000 kg of gold. Their annual income from merely selling laddus is $11 million. From donations and other sources, the temple earns around Rs. 650 crores annually.
3. Shirdi Sai Baba
The Shirdi Saibaba Shrine s located in Rahata Taluka of Ahmednagar District, Maharashtra. The strong belief of people in the miracles of Sai Baba has made it the third richest temple in India. The annual income of the temple from donations is around Rs. 360 crores. According to sources, the temple also possesses gold and silver jewellery worth about Rs. 32 crores.
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4. Vaishno Devi Temple
The shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi in Katra is one of the richest in the country. It has an annual income of Rs 500 crores. It is also the second most visited temple of India after Tirupati. It is believed to have more than 6 million visitors every year.
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5. Siddhivinayak Temple
This temple in Mumbai earns up to Rs.125 crores every year. The dome over the shrine of Lord Ganesha has a 3.7kg gold coating. The black stone idol of Lord Ganesha is over 200 years old.
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6. Meenakshi Temple
Meenakshi temple in Madurai attracts over 20,000 visitors daily. Looted and destroyed by Malik Kafur in the 14th century, today the temple is one of the richest in the country. From the major proceeds of the 10-day Meenakshi Tirukalyanam festival, the temple gets richer by almost Rs. 6 crores every year.
7. Jagannath Temple
In the 12th century, the Jagannath Temple was robbed of its treasure and over the course of history, it has been looted 18 times. Today, it has 7 chambers. Out of which, only 2 have been opened by the Temple authorities. There is no estimate of the Temple’s gold possessions. The net worth of the temple is Rs. 250 crores.
8. Kashi Vishwanatha temple
Kashi Vishwanatha temple is graced with 2 gold plated domes. It earns about Rs. 6 crores by the means of donation. Industrialists like Ganesh Gupta-who donated his ancestral home worth Rs. 5 crores to the temple, have made the temple one of the richest in the country.