A temple in Tamil Nadu reportedly denied a devotee’s request to return his iPhone which he accidently dropped into the ‘hundi’ (donation box or hundial), asserting that it has now become temple property.
The devotee, identified as Dinesh, realised that his iPhone inadvertently slipped into the ‘hundi’ while he was making the donation at Arulmigu Kandaswamy temple in Thiruporur near Chennai.
He then approached temple officials and pleaded for the return of his phone. However, his request was met with a polite refusal.
Interestingly, the temple administration permitted Dinesh to retrieve the data from his Apple device, but declined to return the phone itself. Dinesh, however, stood firm, insisting on the phone’s return.
When the matter reached Karnataka minister PK Sekar Babu, he stated that any item deposited in the donation box of a temple, regardless of whether it was intentional or accidental, becomes part of the deity’s account.
It sounds like it’s mostly based on tradition/fear that revoking a gift might anger the god. As much as it sounds petty, we are thinking about it as a monetary thing, since we(most of us) likely don’t believe in a god. But it has likely been the way things are done for a very long time. And fear of angering their god or losing the gods blessing is a big deal to them. Like, life or death level in their minds.
Pro move here would be to get him a different, non-sacred phone and copy the data.
That was indeed the offer made.
I think he’s paying the price for his ridiculous beliefs. All powerful gods clearly lack the understanding of a simple mistake. I’m sure the god of Bozo will make good use of that phone, you know calling all of his godly friends, surfing the heavenly net with his overpowered data plan, maybe swiping right from time to time.
I mean what exactly do they do with these phones? Probably sell them and put the money toward the church. Why not sell it back to the rightful owner?