The famous Balapur Ganesh Laddu weighing 21 Kgs. was procured today
by Skylab Reddy of Keesara in a fierce auction for Rs. 14.65 Lakhs! Last year
it was auctioned for Rs. 10.32 Lakhs. Year after year its popularity and price is
going up. At the end of this article you can see a list of year-wise price of
this popular Laddu Prasadam.
Balapur village is a suburb of Hyderabad City. Balapur Ganesh
Utsava Samithi started celebrating Ganesh Chavithi in a grand way from 1980.
And since 1994 the Laddu kept in one hand of the large Ganesh idol on Ganesh
Chavithi festival day is auctioned eleven days later, on the day of Ganesh Nimajjanam/immersion.
The idol is taken in a procession in the village and brought back to the Pandal
and then the Laddu Prasadam is auctioned amidst thousands of locals and
visitors. The auction is always very fierce and interesting. This year it began
with 24 persons participating and the amount kept rising and finally it was
given away for Rs. 14.65 Lakhs. This amount is used by the Utsava Committee for
the development of Balapur.
There is a very strong belief among people that Balapur Laddu
brings good luck to the highest bidder and his family. People talk of the prosperity
and happiness that has come to previous top bidders.
After winning the auction the bidder would normally distribute the
Laddu Prasadam among his family, friends, relatives and community. He would
also shower some of it in his fields as it is believed to enrich the soil and enhance
yield.
On this day, there is full coverage of the events at Balapur by all
regional TV channels and people enjoy watching the bidding process.
After this Balapur Laddu tradition became popular, auctioning of Ganesh
Chavithi Laddu Prasadam has become very common throughout the Twin Cities of
Hyderabad and Secunderabad. Auctioning is taking place at hundreds of community
Puja Pandals and even at residential colonies and flats. And here too the
auction amounts are quite significant ranging from few Lakhs to thousands of
Rupees.
No comments:
Post a Comment