At the Pathinettampadi Karuppanaswamy shrine inside the Kallazhagar Temple at Alagarkoil in Madurai district, a new practice has triggered discontent among priests and devotees. Temple staff have been collecting offerings that fall into priests’ plates and depositing them into the shrine’s hundi (donation box).
Devotees consider Karuppanaswamy their family deity, and it is customary to offer money on the steps or near the shrine doors as a vow, popularly known as “putting money on the steps.” To streamline collections, the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) administration had earlier installed four hundis on both sides in front of the shrine, with the proceeds used for temple development works.
On special and auspicious days, heavy crowds gather throughout the day. Priests say they appoint assistants at their own expense to manage the rush, and offerings from devotees are shared among them. However, they allege that in the past week, a staff member placed one of the four hundis directly in front of the shrine doors and began transferring devotees’ voluntary offerings from the priests’ plates into the hundi immediately.
Devotees have also raised objections, saying the placement of the hundi obstructs movement and even covers the deity’s feet visible below the doors, affecting darshan. The temple administration said the three priests posted at the shrine receive salary and other allowances, and that offerings placed in the plates should therefore be deposited in the hundi as per existing instructions. Officials added that arrangements would be made to shift the hundi to an alternate spot to avoid inconvenience.
The issue has drawn comparisons with a previous controversy at the Baladhandayuthapani Temple on Netaji Road in Madurai, where a similar move to transfer plate offerings into a hundi was later withdrawn. Devotees are now urging that a similar approach be followed at Alagarkoil as well.
