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Thursday, 23rd July 2009 (1029 views)

An Indian temple popular among Hindu pilgrims worshipping Lord Venkateswara has seen devotees donate several tonnes of gold to the deity to date.

According to the Times of India, the principal idol representing Lord Venkateswara - one of the forms of Vishnu - at the Sri Venkateswara Temple in Andhra Pradesh has 11 tonnes of gold items and other precious jewels in its store of jewellery.

Some of the most elaborate gold pieces donated to the temple to honour the god include seven crowns, each of which weighs several kilograms.

A priest at the temple said that the idol, which measures eight feet high, is typically adorned with up to 70 kg of gold each day.

However, some of the crowns and ornaments are so heavy they have had to be modified to avoid cracks appearing in the idol in the past.

Gali Janardhan Reddy, tourism minister for Karnataka, gave a 34 kg gold crown worth more than 420 million rupees (£5.3 million) to the Sri Venkateswara Temple last month.

 

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