Author: Ruben Banerjee
Publication: India Today
Date: February 24, 2003
Introduction: Temples are the answer
to those hungering for supper and solace
It is a routine that seldom fails.
As day breaks, you see the figure of Sanjay Senapati making his way to
the Kali temple near the CRPF Square in Bhubaneswar. On the way to his
office, he again makes a visit to the temple. There is one more circumambulation
at dusk. He says this gives him an immense sense of peace. Prayer is food
for the soul indeed, but there's food for the body too.
The subsidised food at the temple
has become a big draw in the city. Like Senapati, the 50-something government
clerk, there are many who drop in at the temple to enjoy the delicious
vegetarian fare: for Rs 17, you get a full meal of rice, dal, a curry and
sweet. Senapati admits the temple is no longer simply a place of worship
for him. "It is my favourite eatery in town too," he smiles.
The Kali temple is not the only
one that doubles up as a restaurant in Orissa's capital. There are more
than two dozen temples-big and small-that house eateries in the city. These
include the ancient temples of Lingaraj and Ananta Basudeva in the old
sections of Bhubaneswar as well as the modern Sri Sri Ma Dakhin Kali Khai
temple in Baramunda on the city's outskirts and the Sri Sri Sanishara Mandir
in upmarket Saheed Nagar, where there are special dining halls with fancy
names. The trend has caught on in the adjoining city of Cuttack too- several
temples at Chandni Chowk, Raja Bagicha and Dolomundai are following suit.
Still the repositories of the region's heritage, the temple are also standing
testimony to the changing times.
There is a reason behind the change-the
promise of piety along with the prasad- meals make sound economic sense.
It has helped the shrines lift their otherwise sagging revenue. The idea
of nourishing the body along with the soul was first conceived by ISKCON.
It went commercial, opening an in-house eatery to boost its income. That
became an immediate success. Today, ISKCON's famed restaurant Govinda attracts
nearly 1,000 people a day and helps the organisation make a profit of about
Rs 30,000 a month. The story is the same at the other temples, although
the profits are not so grand. At the Sani temple, for instance, the monthly
expenditure of Rs 5,000 are entirely met by the earnings generated by its
restaurant. Even the priests, who were till now surviving on the meagre
income from the temples, have begun to depend on the restaurants for a
better livelihood.
With so much at stake, there is
a shift in focus too-from the purely spiritual to the tantalisingly temporal.
It cannot be helped as the competition is getting stiffer. To draw the
boarders at the nearby Utkal University hostel, the Sanishara temple offers
students a discount of Re 1 a plate. The others are not to be left behind.
To lure the hungry, the Giri Durga temple at Unit Three locality is advertising
its fare in cinemas. Some are going the whole hog by diversifying into
outdoor catering, taking advance bulk orders and ensuring timely delivery.
The prayers for profits seem to
have answered. Even without such marketing tactics and publicity efforts,
the trend has found wide acceptance and the city has shown it has a tremendous
appetite. Says Santanu Satapathy, an Utkal University boarder who comes
calling at the Sani temple for his daily meal: "The food is clean and cheap.
The meals are mouthfuls of divinity."
Ilapati Das, a devotee at ISKCON,
agrees with the student: "We are definitely better than the private restaurants.
Unlike others which only fill up the belly, the temple meals also purify
one's heart." It is this underlining concept of "sanctity" that gives temple
restaurants the edge over the regular restaurants and dhabas.
There is a fly in the soup, however.
There are cases where temples have been built on encroached land. Restaurants
have been opened here in a bid to get popular support for getting these
structures regularised. The local people do not create a brouhaha since
the piping hot "divine" meals are convenient and come at reasonable prices.
The gods too, they presume, would be delighted at the number of people-believers
and non-believers alike-who throng the temples. Given the circumstances,
the temple authorities hope the municipal corporation will not want to
spoil their party. The best way to a man's heart is through his stomach-no
one wants to believe in this adage more firmly than the temple authorities.
It is working. At least for now.
