BENGALURU: When laddus are distributed as prasada to lakhs of devotees in Ayodhya on Wednesday, they will have the essence of Karnataka as the ghee used to make the sweet is from the State.This is yet another Karnataka connect to the historical Bhoomi Pooja of Shrirama Mandir in Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh. The auspicious time and date for the Bhoomi Pooja was set by Karnataka’s own Pandit NR Vijayendra Sharma of Belagavi.
It is Namma Karnataka Milk Federation’s branded Nandini ghee that has been used to make 1.5 lakh laddus. In all, 20,000 kg of Nandini ghee has been sent to the trust of Hanuman temple which is making the laddus. The ghee is sent in 15kg tins by truck, said BC Satish, Managing Director of KMF.
Ayodhya is about 1,800km from Bengaluru. And how did Karnataka come into the picture? The Hanuman temple in Patna makes laddus and has been buying ghee from KMF for the past few years. Hanuman temple has another branch in Ayodhya which is making the laddus. And Sheshadri R, who is the manager of the temple, is from Chintamani of Chikkaballapura district.
He used to work in Tirupathi earlier and was aware of Nandini ghee being used to make Tirupati laddus.
According to Sheshadri, around 1.5 lakh laddus are made by more than 60 people. The taste of laddus will be enhanced if KMF Nandini ghee is used as it is made out of cow’s milk and not cream, he said.
KMF supplies 1,400 tonnes of Nandini ghee to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) Board for six months to make the Tirupati laddu.
Security beefed up in Bengaluru
Bengaluru: The city police have beefed up security across the city, in view of the ground-breaking ceremony for the Ram temple in Ayodhya on Wednesday. City Police Commissioner Kamal Pant said the entire strength of the city police will be deployed on the day. “No public meetings or events will be allowed as per the Centre’s norms,” State home minister Basavaraj Bommai said.