Hyderabad:
There's a local adage which says that one needs to marry off a girl to know what going bankrupt is all about. But that apparently does not apply to Tirumala's Balaji. The deity has married off thousands of girls, and seems to be getting only more prosperous. Some 8000 couples were married off across Andhra Pradesh on Sunday, courtesy the Tirumala Tirupati temple trust.
The richest God in the country, who is a legally registered partner to several top businessmen in the country seems unaffected by the global mood of an economic low. Neither the number of his visitors nor his income show any indications of being hit. Tirumala Balaji's appointment diary has bookings not just for the next 10-15 years but till 2048.
",The power and influence of the Lord is so much that people have made bookings even till 2048. They are asking even for 2049, but we are refusing,", said K V Ramanachary, executive officer, Tirumala-Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD).
With daily hundi collections of up to one crore rupees and an annual income of nearly Rs 600 crore, the God of plenty can afford to swathe the walls outside his sanctum sanctorum in sheaths of gold. And while he is at it, he can hope to marry off one lakh brides in the next one year and shower them with blessings for a golden married life.
The richest God in the country, who is a legally registered partner to several top businessmen in the country seems unaffected by the global mood of an economic low. Neither the number of his visitors nor his income show any indications of being hit. Tirumala Balaji's appointment diary has bookings not just for the next 10-15 years but till 2048.
",The power and influence of the Lord is so much that people have made bookings even till 2048. They are asking even for 2049, but we are refusing,", said K V Ramanachary, executive officer, Tirumala-Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD).
With daily hundi collections of up to one crore rupees and an annual income of nearly Rs 600 crore, the God of plenty can afford to swathe the walls outside his sanctum sanctorum in sheaths of gold. And while he is at it, he can hope to marry off one lakh brides in the next one year and shower them with blessings for a golden married life.
