For the past one year, everything that is being offered to the presiding deity in the temple – milk, curd, ghee, cereals, pulses, vegetables — is a product of cows. The famous “Tirumala laddu,” which devotees buy as an offering of the god, is now made of only cow products.

“Paddy that we procure for making of ‘Naivedyam’ (offering to the god) is cultivated in fields where only organic manure made of cow dung and urine is used. Similarly, all other farm products like legumes, spices, groundnut, sugarcane are cultivated only in organic manner,” TTD trust board chairman YV Subba Reddy told Hindustan Times.

He said even the cultivation is done only using cows and bullocks. In October 2021, the TTD entered a memorandum of understanding with Andhra Pradesh Rythu Sadhikara Samithi (AP farmers’ empowerment organisation) and state organic farming department to encourage organic farming in the fields where the agriculture produce required for Tirumala temple is produced.

Though cow slaughter has been banned in Andhra Pradesh in 1977, the farmers had been selling barren cows (after they stop producing milk) to middlemen, who in turn were transporting them to slaughter houses.

“We wanted to put an end to this practice as cow is a sacred animal. So, in October last year, the state government led by chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy came up with the idea of procuring these barren cows and supplying them to farmers to use them in organic farming,” Reddy said.

The TTD is collaborating with 516 goshalas (cowsheds) in both Telugu states and financially support them. It will procure barren cows and bulls from them and given them to farmers for the sake of organic farming and encourage desi manures.

The TTD has entered into a buy-back arrangement with these farmers for purchase of the farm products cultivated using cows and using cow manure as natural fertilisers. “Since then, we have been purchasing groundnut, pulses, jaggery and rice from them at a higher rate than the minimum support price, thereby extending financial help. Thus, we are ensuring that the offering made to the god is completely cow-based and chemical free,” the TTD chairman said.

He said the TTD has so far procured and donated as many as 1700 non-milking cows and over 300 bulls to farmers for agricultural operations in the last eight months.

At the same time, the TTD has also initiated a programme to encourage breeding of milch cows and protection of desi cows (local breed cows). A committee was set up to purchase local breed from different parts of the country having high milk production capacity. “We have taken special measures to protect and promote these desi breeds,” Reddy said.

The TTD has also been encouraging “panchagavya” products – made of five by-products of cow – milk, curd, urine, dung and ghee. It has set up a pharmacy centre at Tirupati that makes 85 different types of Ayurvedic medicines from these panchagavya products.

TTD has also set up animal fodder plant. The project is aimed to increase the number of desi animals for providing ghee, milk and curd for Naivedyam in the temple located on the Tirumala hills.

The TTD has not stopped with that. It has built Sri Venkateswara Saptha Go Pradakshina Mandiram at Alipiri at the foothills of Tirumala, where pilgrims can worship the cows before climbing up the hills to have the darshan of the Lord.

“We have also launched a unique programme – Gudi-Ko-Gomata (cow to every temple) under which we shall donate a pair of cow and calf to the temples across the country, apart from mutts, Veda Patashalas in the country for the facilitation of devotees to perform Gau Puja,” the TTD chairman said.

Reddy said the TTD was also taking initiative to declare cow as a national animal. “In November last year, we conducted an all-India religious conference where we requested the Centre to declare cow as a national animal. Earlier in February 2021, the TTD formally adopted a resolution to this effect. We shall continue to pursue the matter,” the TTD chairman added.