Mutton Biryani is served as prasadam at this temple in Madurai

It is a decades-old traditional temple festival that started in 1973, where a resident of Vadakampatti village in Madurai district started a hotel business and once it turned successful, he began the grand feast to thank the deity for the success. Interestingly, over a period of time, here all the villagers have turned into hoteliers and they make sure to offer non-vegetarian food and name the hotel after their local deity Muniyandi. At present, there are more than 500 Muniyandi hotels in South India.

As a part of paying gratitude to the local deity, during the festival delicious mutton biryani is offered to the God. This year around 8,000 local people took part in the traditional temple-festival.

According to media reports, the festival is a way of the community to give back to society and the almighty. Here, all the hoteliers from the community contribute money for the festival and organize this festival that celebrates the success of their hotel business.

If we got by the reports, around 4 tonnes of rice and 100 goats were offered to the temple, that was used to make biryani and 600 roasters were sacrificed for making the gravy to be offered with the prasadam.

It is a matter of faith and trust that gives shape to such celebrations. This unique festival is also an example of unity, where all the hoteliers, who are competitors to each other, come together to celebrate their success and thank the supreme power.