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HomeIndiaTirupati temple's plan to fully automate laddoo production, make them 'more hygienic...

Tirupati temple’s plan to fully automate laddoo production, make them ‘more hygienic & tastier’

According to TTD officials, Reliance Group has agreed to set up two machines that will double daily output, and this won't affect labour force in kitchen as staff will have other work.

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Chennai: The Tirumala Tirupati temple prasadam – the laddoo – will soon be made through an automated process, almost doubling the production.

In an announcement in January, A.V. Dharma Reddy, the executive officer of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam’s (TTD), the trust that runs the temple in Andhra Pradesh, had said that the process of laddoo-making will be automated by December 2023 under a Rs 50 crore project.

Dharma Reddy had said, “The entire process will result in the production of more hygienic and tastier laddoos for the devotees.”

According to top TTD officials, the Reliance Group of Companies has agreed to set up two machines – one that will be used regularly, and the other on standby.


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Srivari (temple) laddoos in high demand 

“On a normal day, 3 to 3.5 lakh laddoos are made. With automation, this number will rise to at least 6 lakh,” said a senior TTD official.

Officials told ThePrint that on second Saturdays, Sundays and continuous holidays, at least five lakh laddoos are made each day but the demand is much higher on festival days, like Vaikunta Ekadasi, Ratha Sapthami, and nine-day brahmotsavams.

In the month of January alone, 1.07 crore Srivari laddoos were sold, according to a temple press release. In the annual budget for 2022- 2023, the temple officials said that the sale of laddoo prasadam was likely to get TTD a revenue of Rs 365 crore – that’s Rs 1 crore a day.

600+ workers on the job 

At present, laddoos are made at the Srivari laddoo potu (temple laddoo kitchen) inside the temple premises. “Around 300 Sri Vaishnava male Brahmins are involved per shift in the laddoo-making process,” said a top official from TTD. Laddoos are made in two shifts for devotees whose number ranges between 50,000 and a lakh every day.

The temple gives a free laddoo prasadam to each devotee who completes darshan but this laddoo is “very small, maybe the size of an Amala (gooseberry),” said the official.

Additionally, the temple kitchen makes three types of laddoos. On regular days, each pass-holder devotee can get a regular Proktham laddoo, each of which weighs between 160-180 grams. On special festival days, the temple also prepares Asthanam laddoo which weighs 750 grams but is made in a limited number. For devotees who participate in Kalyanotsavam, hold VIP tickets and for some special occasion, the temple also provides Kalyanotsavam laddoo. “While one additional Proktham laddoo costs Rs 50, an additional Kalayanotsavam laddoo costs Rs 200,” said a senior staff member who works at the laddoo sale counter. The Asthanam laddoos are made in such a limited quantity that they are not easily available for purchase.

Tirupati laddoo, a much sought after prasadam, was patented in 2009 and was given the exclusive Geographical Indications tag (GI tag), which implies that the recipe and the quality of the laddoos made are unique.

The laddoos are prepared with a traditional dittam (recipe), and the current semi-mechanised process is fully monitored through CCTV. Regular weighing and quality checks are done by TTD officials.

But that’s not to say that a fully automated system would render the 600-odd Brahmin workers redundant. The temple pottu will continue to have the need for those who prepare laddoos currently, said a senior TTD official to ThePrint. “As the production of laddoos increases, the Sri Vaishnava Brahmins will have other work related to the process to attend to,” he added.

(Edited by Smriti Sinha)


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