A man who accidentally dropped his iPhone in a temple or pooja box in a Tamil Nadu temple may not be able to retrieve it.
The Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Department has rejected his request, and the phone is now considered temple property.
Citing the Establishment, Protection and Accounting of Hundial Rules, 1975, an official explained that anything deposited in a Hundial is considered a donation and cannot be returned to the owner. “All offerings made to Hundial belong to the temple and cannot be retrieved,” the official told PTI.
The temple authorities have confirmed that the iPhone put in the hundial is treated as a pooja and is only allowed to retrieve its data.
Dinesh, the owner of the phone, sought help from officials at Sri Kandaswamy Temple in Tiruppurur in Chengalpattu district to retrieve his device. However, the temple authorities rejected his request.
Hindu Religious and Charitable Institutions Minister P.K. Explaining the decision, Sekhar Babu said, “Whatever is deposited in the offering box, even if done unintentionally, becomes part of God's account.”
“According to the custom and tradition of temples, any offering made to the hundi goes directly to the account of the deity of that temple. The rules do not allow the administration to return the offerings to the devotees,” Babu explained to reporters.
He said he would discuss with the department officials to see if any kind of compensation could be given to the devotees.
The minister made these comments while attending a construction inspection tour of Madhavaram Arulmigu Mariamman Temple and overseeing the restoration of a tank in a temple adjacent to Arulmigu Kailasanathar Temple in Venugopal Nagar.
This is not the first time such an incident has taken place in the state.
In May 2023, S. in Alappuzha, Kerala. A devotee named Sangeetha accidentally left her 1.75 gold necklace in the hundi of Sri Dandayuthapani Swamy Temple in Palani. When I removed a tulasi necklace from my neck to make an offering, the chain slipped into the offering box.
The Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the temple personally bought a new gold necklace of the same value and gave it to her after confirming from the CCTV footage that the incident was unintentional considering her financial condition.