Daijiworld Media Network - Brahmavar (SP)

Brahmavar, Feb 5: An aged lady who has been eking out a living by seeking alms from the people, on Thursday February 4, donated one lac rupees which she pooled together out of begging, to Lord Gurunarasimha temple at Saligrama.

The beggar in question, Ashwathamma (80), has pledged herself to the cause of coronavirus eradication. She is from Kanchogodu near Gangolli in Kundapur taluk. She is an avid devotee of Lord Ayyappa and follows austerities by wearing the customary Ayyappa Mala for several months every year. She seeks alms at several places in the district and uses the money she collects for social service activities. The fact that her own family is very poor has not deterred her from donating her savings to others.

She donated one lac rupees to the said temple with the prayer that coronavirus pandemic should be driven out and the world should become a welfare state. She has requested this money to be used for the lunch being provided by the temple to its devotees.

Ashwathamma begs from dawn to dusk and remits the day's collection to the daily collection account of a bank. Before she undertakes the pilgrimage to Sabarimala every year, she donates the entire savings of the year to a temple. She leaves to Sabarimala only after spending money on providing food to people.

Ashwathamma has donated Rs 1.5 lac to Kanchogodu temple, one lac rupees to Pampa temple, Rs 1.5 lac to Polali Rajarajeshwari temple and many others. When she handed over her donation, Saligrama temple priest Vedamurthy Janardana Adiga and manager K Nagaraja Hande honoured her by presenting the temple Prasadam. Owner of Saligrama Mayya Tiffin Room, Raghavendra Hebbar, and others were present.

Ashwathamma has visited various temples across the country. She has already worn the Ayyappa Mala this year and will be setting her Irumudi for the pilgrimage at Saligrama temple on February 9. She has requested the people to take part in the public feast at the temple hosted by her that day.