Hundi | Hundial | Cash Collection Box in Temple

Hundi

A Hundi also called as Hundial is a cash collection box which is kept in most of the temples, in order to put the cash offerings by the devotees. Hundis would be locked, and Hundi income contributes a major source of income for the temples. Usually Hundis would be opened once in a few months, and with the help of the temple staffs, the amount would be counted. The counted cash would be accounted in the temples account, and that money would be utilized for temple related activities.

The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam kept several hundis in the temple, in order to make the devotees to easily deposit their offerings in the hundis. The TTD is also operating a scheme known as e-hundi. Through this scheme, the devotees can transfer their money to the banks maintained by the TTD. The devotees who are unable to visit the Tirumala temple can offer their prayers by way of transferring their money through e-hundi system.

Some devotees would not deposit their money in the hundi, if they don’t have confidence with the temple management.They used to pay cash to the temple office for the sevas, and would obtain proper receipt from them.

Before 30 years, small children would save their money in hundi, and after some period, they would open it, cheerfully count it, and spend the money for their education purpose or for going for sight-seeing places along with their friends.

Even in some hotels and shops, we can see the hundis kept by some charitable institutions. After the hundi gets filled up with money, once in a month, the staffs from charitable institutions would come to the hotels and shops, thank the shop keepers and hotel cashiers, and then they would open the hundi and take their money, and would utilize it for the welfare activities of their organisation. Some volunteers from charitable institutions would collect cash from the people by way of meeting them either in roads or in buses. Nowadays lot of people are contributing their money to the social welfare institutions, old age homes and orphanages by way of transferring money to their bank accounts.

Due to the advanced technology, though people are transferring their money to their interested institutions by way of electronic transfers, still putting our hard earned money in the temple hundis, would give us great mental satisfaction and spiritual pleasure, and we would be thinking about it at least for a few months.

“OM”
WRITTEN BY
R.HARISHANKAR