A man who accidentally dropped his iPhone in a hundial, or offering box, at a temple in Tamil Nadu may not be able to get it back.
The Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments department rejected his request, saying the phone is now considered property of the temple.
Citing the Installation, Safeguarding and Accounting of Hundials Rules, 1975, an official explained that whatever is deposited in a hundial is considered a gift and cannot be returned to the owner. “All offerings made in the hundials belong to the temple and cannot be taken back,” the official told news agency PTI.
Temple authorities confirmed that the iPhone placed in the hundial was treated as an offering, allowing only the recovery of its data.
Dinesh, the owner of the phone, sought help from the Sri Kandaswamy Temple authorities at Thiruporur, located in Chengalpattu district, to recover his device. However, his request was refused by the temple administration.
PK Sekar Babu, Minister of Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department, clarified the decision saying, “Whatever is deposited in the offering box, even if done unintentionally, becomes a part of God’s account. »
“As per temple practices and tradition, any offering made to the hundial goes directly to the account of the deity of that temple. The rules do not allow the administration to return the offerings to devotees,” Babu told reporters.
He added that he would consult ministry officials to determine whether any form of compensation could be given to the devotee.
The minister made these remarks while inspecting the construction of the Arulmigu Mariamman temple in Madhavaram and supervising the renovation of a temple tank associated with the Arulmigu Kailasanathar temple in Venugopal Nagar.
This is not the first time such an incident has happened in the state.
In May 2023, a devotee named S. Sangeetha from Alappuzha, Kerala, accidentally dropped her 1.75 sovereign gold chain into the dial of the Sri Dhandayuthapani Swamy temple in Palani. The chain slipped into the offering box as she removed a garland of tulasi from around her neck to make an offering.
Taking into account her financial situation and verifying through CCTV footage that the incident was not intentional, the chairman of the temple board personally purchased a new gold chain of equivalent value and presented it to her .
