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“I have been working as a priest at Gangadharasawmy Temple in Tumakuru. I get Rs 30,000 per year from Muzrai Department as a salary. I have been depending on donations from devotees. With the closure of temples for devotees due to the lockdown, it has become tough for me to look after my family,” said Ravi Dixit, a priest.
A file photograph of the Male Mahadeshwaraswamy temple, one of the most popular shrines in the Old Mysore region
MYSURU: The Male Mahadeshwara Temple atop MM Hills, a Muzrai temple, suffered a loss of Rs 50 crore last year as most of the utsavs and jathra celebrations were cancelled due to the lockdown and the pandemic.
The temple grossed the second highest revenue among Muzari temples after Kukke Subramanya in Dakshina Kannada district in 2019. The temple was closed in the last week of March and opened on June 8.
Sources told TOI that as a handful of devotees and VIPs were allowed to enter the shrine during festival occasions the entry of devotees for major jathras and utsavs were restricted, the temple’s revenue collection was Rs 25 crore, as against Rs 78 crore in the previous year. The Hundi collection, which was counted twice, totalled Rs 3.5 crore.