Azhagarkoil temple to have a modern kitchen to make prasadam 

MADURAI

The temple kitchen of Sundararaja Perumal Temple at Azhagarkoil in Madurai has been renovated in commensurate with the rise in number of visitors.

The famous prasadam of the temple – the crispy dosa – is priced at ₹40. Over 2,000 dosas are prepared every day, and over 4,500 dosas are made on weekends, festival days and holidays.

Apart from the dosa, the team of 20 temple staff in the kitchen make laddus, appams, adhirasams, then kuzhal, puliyodharai and samba rice – another prasadam that is a crowd favourite. All the other prasadam items are priced at ₹10 each.

Speaking to The Hindu, the temple’s Deputy Commissioner of Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments M. Ramasamy said that the temple kitchen on the northern side of the thirukalyana mandapam has been largely manual in functioning.

“Since the State government is keen on raising the standard of prasadam prepared and its making, the kitchen has been given a makeover at a cost of ₹50 lakh,” he said.

The modernisation process began around two months ago and the layers of soot on the ceilings and walls were removed first. Firewood has been replaced with gas stoves with chimneys. Further, batter mixer machines and grinders have been installed to reduce manual labour. New vessels have also been purchased.

He said the kitchen measuring 3,500 sq. ft. can be fully utilised now, which was not the case earlier. “A portion of it can also be used as a storeroom. A small staff room has been earmarked in the room next to the kitchen, where many damaged portions were rebuilt,” he added.