Is the Tirupati laddu really 300 years old? God only knows!

The delicious laddu prasadam (religious offering) at the Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple in Tirumala, Tirupati, is world-famous. Each day, lakhs of devotees make serpentine queues, first for a darshan of Lord Balaji, and then to collect the laddus.

Now, is the laddu really 300 years old? In recent weeks, social media has been flooded with messages claiming the laddu took birth some three centuries ago.

In fact, every year, on August 2, a snippet that goes viral says the first laddu was born on that day in 1715. This year, laddu enthusiasts celebrated what they called the 309th birth anniversary of the sweet.

Hazy origins of laddu

The story goes that laddu first entered the naivedyam of Lord Venkateswara on that date. The stories have never cited any document or religious text as a proof to zero in on the date of origin.

Though the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) talks a lot about the laddu, it has never 'celebrated' the 'birthday' of the sweet.

Despite its sacredness and importance, TTD’s official website, which offers data on everything connected to temple rituals, is silent on the origins of the laddu.

TTD in the dark

Similarly, the TTD website, which gives information about every activity including the number of devotees the previous day, total tonsures, the time taken for the Sarvadarshanam, and the money and other gifts offered to the Lord, has never circulated any news about the birth of the laddu.

The TTD spends huge money on publishing great works of Telugu literature and Hindu religious texts. Its catalogue doesn’t contain any book or pamphlet about the history of the laddu whose absence makes, for millions, any visit to the Tirupati temple rather incomplete.

When so much is written about the temple's antiquity and patronage, why is there nothing about the laddu in the books published by the temple trust?

And, how did social media arrive at August 2, 1715?

Priests too blank on laddu

TTD is a 'secretive' organisation. Its information officials don’t provide any historical records barring news about day-to-events. Each person The Federal approached said the query doesn’t fall under his/her jurisdiction.

The interactions The Federal had with a few priests associated with the temple yielded no new information other than what is available in the public domain. None of them were aware of the laddu’s history.

Chief priest Venugopala Deekshitulu said the preparation of present laddu was of recent origin. “There is no clarity about its origins. It took its present shape in 1940,” he told The Federal. He admitted he had not seen any book dwelling on the history of the sweet.

Noted Sanskrit scholar and one of the official Pundits of TTD, Vaidyam Venkateswaracharyulu, also has not come across any authentic information about the laddu’s birth.

Laddu emerged in 1843?

Talking to The Federal, the scholar surmised that the antiquity of laddu could not go beyond 1843, when the temple came under the administrative control of the Hathiram Mutt.

When the East India Company was asked by the British government not to interfere in the temple matters, the administration was delegated to the Mutt set up by sadhus who migrated from northern India.

“Between 1843 and 1932, the temple was administered by the Mutt. It was when North Indians started visiting Tirumala in a big way. It was during this period that the name 'Balaji' started appearing as a synonym for Lord Venkateswara,” said Venkateswaracharyulu.

North Indian link to Tirumala

“Etymologically, 'Balaji' refers to Lord Hanuman. The North Indian devotees had built a Hanuman temple in Tirumala and called the deity Balaji. Balaji is a North Indian version of Valaji, which means a 'god with tail' (valam is tail in Sanskrit).

"North Indian devotees used to offer sweets prepared out of besan or milk to Hanuman in Tirumala too. This might have gradually entered the Venkateswara temple also.

“As per the Vaikanasa literature, Lord Venkateswara’s favourite item is vada. The laddu was of recent origin and might be the offering of the North Indian Hanuman devotees who visited Tirumala in those days,” he said, and added that except for folk tales, nothing authentic was available about the laddu.

Dr Thimmappa, a historian from the Sri Venkateswara University (SVU) in Tirupati, said he had not come across any date when the laddu entered Lord's naivedyam during his research on the confectionery.

Offerings at hill shrine

Thimmappa, who sought to piece together the history of the Tirumala laddu, said he had not seen any historical text or inscription mentioning the laddu in the naivedyam offered to the Lord.

“Previous offerings were all rice-based items. An officer of Vijayanagara King Devaraya II introduced a timetable for food offerings to the Lord. A part of the offering would be distributed to pilgrims free of cost. Later, sukkiyam, appam, manohara padi, vada etc were to be offered to the God.

“The name Avasaram was given to the naivedyam offered to the God. The meaning of the word Avas in Sanskrit is food. This term was also noticed in three previous inscriptions of the years 1554, 1579 and 1616. The practice of offering naivedyam ceased following the conquest of the Vijayanagara kingdom by Golconda Nawabs,” Thimmppa said.

Madras Presidency and Tirumala

According to Thimmappa, the absence of prasadam had disappointed the devotees.

“The devotees wanted some wholesome food like suddhannam (cooked food) as prasadam. The Madras presidency, which took control of the temple in 1801 from the Arcot Nawab, identified the problem in 1803 started the sale of vadas as prasadam as they had a longer shelf life.

“The Madras government started to sell the sweet boondi (laddu granules) to devotees around the time when the temple administration was handed over to Hathiram Mutt. Boondi was the initial form of laddu. In 1940, the boondi was made into balls called laddu and offered as part of naivedyam to the Lord,” Thimmappa said.

Whose idea was this?

Though nobody knows who asked the officials to prepare the Srivari laddu from the boondi, it is believed that one Kalyanam Iyengar was the architect of the idea. But nobody seems to know who he was.

“His name was apparently Kanyadanam Tatacharyulu. He was named Kalyana Iyengar reportedly by C Rajagopalachari (Rajaji), then prime minister of the Madras presidency, as he used to donate mangalsutras and new clothes to the poor during weddings. He was linked to the conversion of boondi into laddu. But this is not supported by any evidence,” said Thimmappa, who teaches history.

Three types of laddus

Elaborating on the laddu preparation, Thimmappa said it used to be prepared with only firewood. In 1984, LPG replaced the traditional cooking method as there was a spurt in the number of laddus required daily

. Although the number shot up to one lakh laddus a day, 150 cooks were able to handle the work with the introduction of the latest cooking technology.

Three varieties of laddus – Asthanam, Kalyanotsavam and Proktham – are prepared. Asthanam laddu is prepared on special occasions and is distributed only to VVIPs like the President of India and the Prime Minister. Kalyanam laddu is offered to those who take part in Kalyanotsavam and Arjitha sevas. The Proktham laddu is small and meant for all pilgrims.