Madurai: The initiative of Sri Meenakshi Sundareswarar temple authorities to provide boiled cow milk to children below three years for free is slowly becoming popular among devotees. The temple gaushala supplies about 10 to 20 litres of milk for the purpose.

Joint commissioner of the temple N Natarajan told TOI that the gaushala has about 60 cows, most of them country cows, donated to the temple by devotees. They are well maintained with adequate fodder and grass. The animals produce hundreds of litres of milk, which is used to perform abhishekams, in free meals and at the temple orphanage.

T Shenbagavalli of Simmakkal said that she brings her grandson every Wednesday for a glass of this milk. “It is good and creamy and he enjoys it a lot. I come here along with him for my evening walk,” she said.

Another resident Meenambal who brought her two-and-a-half-year old son for a glass of this milk on Tuesday, said that she considered it auspicious to do so on the first day of Aadi month, to wean him from breast milk.

It was in December last year that it was decided to give a glass of boiled milk to children who come to the temple. About 20 litres of milk from the gaushala is set aside for this purpose every day.

Apart from this, a litre of boiled milk is distributed in small quantities as ‘gnanapal’ or blessed milk to the devotees as prasadam. During the month of Markazhi, when a large number of pilgrims throng the temple, this quantity is increased from 10 to 15 litres.

