Agarbattis made with Tirupati temple blossoms for sale

Tirupati, Aug 24 : Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), the custodian of the world-renowned Lord Venkateswara Swamy temple at Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh, on Monday said incense sticks (agarbattis) made out of blossoms used to worship the deity will be sold from September.

"TTD will commence the sale of agarbattis made from used flower garlands of TTD temples by first week of September," said executive officer K. S. Jawahar Reddy.

Reddy made this announcement during a review meeting on the activities of SV Go Samrakshanasala and Ayurveda college in his chambers at the TTD administrative building.

He said these incense sticks should be made available at Tirumala laddu counters, coconut counters, Goshala, Sri Padmavati temple at Tiruchanoor, Sri Govindarajaswami temple, Vishnu Nivasam and Srinivasam in Tirupati for sale.

The temple body commenced the manufacture of agarbattis in Tirupati in collaboration with Bengaluru-based Darshan International Limited.

He directed officials to finalise the terms and conditions of the deal and also complete all civil and electrical works in the DPW stores.

The executive officer also reviewed the licensing, packing and marketing of the Panchagavya products.

"TTD has also tied up with Coimbatore based Ashirwad company for production of 15 types of Panchagavya products," said the senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer.

He asked officials to make ready prominent Panchagavya products for markets such as divya mangala - dhoop churnam, agarbatti, sambhrani cups, dhoop sticks, dhoop cones, aishwarya-vibhuti, parimala - herbal tooth powder, face pack, soap, shampoo, sanjivini - nasal drops, go-thirtha - go ark, pavani-herbal floor cleaner, gopala - cow dung cake, cow dung balls and others.