The recipe for the famous Tirupati laddu, the main offering at the Tirumala Tirupati Temple in Andhra Pradesh, dates back 1,800 years or even earlier. The details about the ingredients, including ghee and other components, are inscribed on the temple walls.
According to a report by The Hindu, these inscriptions were created during the 8th and 18th centuries. They outline the purity standards for the ghee and other ingredients used in the prasad. A stone inscription from the reign of Rajendra Chola I, dating back to 1019 CE, mentions the donations made to the temple and how the prasad ingredients are prepared.
The Tirumala and Tirupati temples have a total of 1,150 inscriptions, with 700 of them located in the Tirumala temple. These inscriptions are written in Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada. The rules mentioned in these inscriptions have been followed since the Pallava dynasty.
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K. Muniratnam Reddy, the Director of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in Mysore, explained that one inscription states that if there is a shortage of food offerings and worship at the Lord Venkateswara temple, a committee should be formed to investigate the issue.
The inscriptions also specify that ghee should be used for preparing the sacred prasad and for lighting the temple’s perpetual lamps. They even detail how to pack and transport the ghee. Additionally, the inscriptions describe how to check the quality and quantity of the ingredients used in the laddus before taking the naivedyam (food offering) inside the sanctum.
