Huddled around a dug up pit, scores of men were seen holding up big cans and pouring milk, curd and desi ghee (clarified butter), totalling 11,000 litres, for the foundation ceremony of Devnarayan temple to be constructed in Ratlai region of Jhalawar district on Saturday.
“We collected 11,000 litres of milk, desi ghee and curd from the Gujjar community members and even others for the foundation ceremony of the Devnarayan temple as a mark of reverence for deity Lord Devnarayan,” said spokesperson of the temple construction committee Ramlal Gujjar.
Out of the 11000 litres, there was 1500 litre of curd and 1 quintal of desi ghee while rest was milk and its total cost was nearly Rs 1.50 lakh, he said.
We had appealed to the Gujjar community members a day before the ceremony and the people gave generously, he said.
When asked if it is a mandatory tradition of the Gujjar community to pour milk for such ceremonies, Ramlal said that it is not compulsory but it has been done a few times in the past as well. He maintained it was nothing in comparison to what lord gives us.
“It is not at all a waste as in Gujjar community we pour some milk on deity Devnarayan as it protects our cattle,” said Ramlal on being quizzed if the exercise did not seem like a gargantuan waste of resources.
We owe everything to the lord so we donated milk products to him for the foundation ceremony, he said.
The temple, being built at a cost of Rs 1 crore, will be ready in two years.
