TRAVANCORE DEVASWOM BOARD Vs. AYYAPPA SPICES

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Leave granted.

(2.) Tirth and prasad offered at places of worship are regarded as sacred and bond the worshiper with the worshipped. While in temples and gurudwaras, prasad or bhog may be an essential part of their religion, it is not uncommon for other places of worship to serve some food, toast or drink as a religious offering.

(3.) As of 2019, it is believed that India has a place of worship for every 400 people. While in most of these religious places, food is prepared and served at a large scale on special occasions, there are hundreds of temples and gurudwaras, which serve tens of thousands of devotees twice every day. Several temples and gurudwaras have their own unique and traditional way of preparing the prasad or bhog like the Laddu of Tirupati and Karah Prasad of the Golden Temple at Amritsar,Guidance Document for Maintaining Food Safety & Hygiene in Places of Worship, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, 1st Edition, January 2018. Though somewhat connected with divine blessing in the form of prasad or bhog, this case draws us back to aggressive competing business interests - for supply of 7000 kilograms of cardamom for making Aravana Prasadam.