A man who accidentally dropped his iPhone into a hundial, or offerings box, at a Tamil Nadu temple may not be able to reclaim it.
The Tamil Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments department has declined his request, stating that the phone is now considered temple property.
Citing the Installation, Safeguarding, and Accounting of Hundial Rules, 1975, an official explained that anything deposited into a hundial is deemed a donation and cannot be returned to the owner. “All offerings made into the hundials belong to the temple and cannot be retrieved,” the official told news agency PTI.
Temple authorities have confirmed that the iPhone dropped into the hundial has been treated as an offering, allowing only the retrieval of its data.
Dinesh, the owner of the phone, sought assistance from officials at the Sri Kandaswamy Temple in Thiruporur, located in Chengalpattu district, to reclaim his device. However, his request was denied by the temple administration.
PK Sekar Babu, Minister of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department, clarified the decision, stating, “Anything deposited into the offering box, even if done unintentionally, becomes part of God’s account.”
“As per the practices and tradition at the temples, any offering made into the hundial directly goes into the account of the deity of that temple. Rules do not permit the administration to return the offerings back to the devotees,” Babu explained to reporters.
He added that he would consult with department officials to explore whether any form of compensation could be provided to the devotee.
The minister made these remarks while inspecting the construction of the Arulmigu Mariamman temple in Madhavaram and overseeing the renovation of a temple tank associated with the Arulmigu Kailasanathar temple in Venugopal Nagar.
This isn’t the first time such an incident has occurred in the state.
In May 2023, a devotee named S. Sangeetha from Alappuzha, Kerala, accidentally dropped her 1.75-sovereign gold chain into the hundial at the Sri Dhandayuthapani Swamy temple in Palani. The chain slipped into the offering box while she was removing a tulasi garland from around her neck to make an offering.
Taking into account her financial situation and verifying through CCTV footage that the incident was unintentional, the chairman of the temple board of trustees personally purchased a new gold chain of equivalent value and handed it to her.
