Gold soars, faith holds strong: Tuljabhavani temple sees surge in precious offerings

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: Even as gold and silver prices soared with brutal intensity in the last two years, devotees remained unwavering — pouring generous offerings of the precious metals into the Shri Tuljabhavani Temple in Dharashiv district.Temple records show that devotees donated nearly 49kg of gold and 662kg of silver between 2024 and 2026. A stock-taking exercise conducted at the end of March revealed that the temple treasury now has 253.03kg of gold and close to 4,523kg of silver, marking a sharp increase from the 204kg of gold and 3,861kg of silver that it held between 2009 and 2023.Temple data showed that March 2026 alone witnessed the donation of 10.8kg of gold and 267.3kg of silver. Though gold donations were around 7kg lower in 2026 compared to the previous year, silver offerings registered an increase.Observers associated with the temple said the steady rise in offerings indicated that the famed shrine of goddess Tulja Bhavani — revered by Nath, Shakta and Kapalik sects — is gradually emerging among the country's wealthier temples.What particularly stood out, they said, was the consistency of donations despite the steep rise in gold prices. Gold, which traded between Rs 55,000 and Rs 70,000 per 10gm in 2024, surged in 2025 to the range of Rs 95,000 to Rs 1.4 lakh. Prices even touched nearly Rs 1.84 lakh earlier this year, before settling around Rs 1.5 lakh.Temple authorities partly attributed the increase to the growing influx of devotees from southern states. However, the former president of the temple priests' association Kishor Gangane said faith-driven donations could not be linked solely to devotees from south India.He said that the introduction of a systematic mechanism for counting gold and silver donations during the tenure of former Dharashiv collector Pravin Gedam helped bring transparency and accurately reflected the rise in temple reserves.Temple observers added that other factors included the reduction of travel time for pilgrims because of better transport connectivity and the increase in faith after the pandemic period.