Biriyani Offering at a Temple

Muniyandi Kovil, Tamil Nadu

Temples have a very important place in the Hindu tradition of worship. Everyday, offering are made to the consecrated Deity of each temple in the form of light, flowers, food etc.. The offerings are later distributed among the devotees. Usually they are of the vegetarian kind.

Interestingly, Muniyandi Kovil (Kovil means small temple in Tamil language) in the state of Tamil Nadu in South India offers Mutton Biriyani¹ (a non-vegetarian food) as offerings to devotees.

There is a very sentimental story behind this offer of Mutton Biriyani Prasadam at Muniyandi Kovil.

The history behind the Mutton Biriyani Prasadam

In 1937 a man by the name Guru Swamy started a small hotel in the village of Vadakam Petty, 45 kilometers away from the famous temple city of Madurai. The hotel became a run away success even to the surprise of enterprising Guru Swamy who believed it to be the blessing of the Deity Muniyandy of the nearby Kovil. An inspired Guruswamy along with another fellow worshipper of Muniyandi, Sundaram Reddy, started two more hotels in the neighbouring towns of Kalligudy and Virudh Nagar naming them ‘Muniyandi Hotels’. Needless to say those two hotels also became very successful and Guruswamy to show his gratitude offered his most popular food in the hotel – Mutton Biryani – as an offering to Deity Muniyandi on the day of temple festival serving everyone who visited the temple with  Mutton Biriyani.

Over the years, many have started following the business model of Guruswamy and have started ‘Muniyanid Hotels’ all over south India. Most of these hotels have become so successful and popular that they keep a side a certain amount of tiths which they offer to the Muniyandi Kovil. There are around 1500 ‘Muniyandi Hotels’ in South India, their success stories have taken the name to states like Andhra, Karnataka, Puducherry etc. 

Growing Popularity

As the news of the Mutton Biriyani spread, the festival is attracting vistors from all over India, nearly 8000 devotees visited the Kovil last year during the festival day. 1800 Kilos of Biryani Rice and 200 goats worth of Biriyani was served during the festival days of last year.

The festival falls on the last Thursday of January and runs for the next three days. The festival is also a beautiful example of the inclusive tradition of the Hindu culture, assimilating and evolving giving everything a place than to discard and destroy.

 ¹ Mutton Biriyani has its origin from the Turkish and Arab Muslim rulers who came to India since the 11^th Century).