Temples strive to be peaceful, reverent and respectful. The image at Savadatti Yellamma Temple, Karnataka, is a different matter. Now beneath piles of refuse is the sacred hill of Renuka Yellamma, visited by thousands of devotees. Garbage strewn throughout the grounds, including used clothes, plastic bags, transform a holy site into a filthy mess.
Many devotees visit the temple every year to make offerings of prayer and ritual. Many devotees discard clothes and other items as an aspect of tradition. But instead of properly regulated offerings, they usually end up disposed of in the trash. Plastic waste, food wrappers and discarded items litter the temple grounds. What should be a clean, sacred space, is dirty and miserable.
This creates a serious question: who is holding themselves responsible for such shame? Devotees that throw something away and walk away without concern? Temple assembly, which takes in lakhs of rupees in donations yet has no intention of keeping its premises clean? The government that declares the temple a heritage site and does very little to guard it? The blame cannot belong on one side alone. It has been a combination of careless devotees, poor management, and weak government action.
Visitors and local people have reacted in fury and sadness. Many argue that the temple committee should devote funds to hiring cleaning staff and properly managing waste. Others say devotees should bear responsibility and stop acting as if the temple is a dumping ground. On social media, the mess is being shared and people have been calling for immediate action to address it.
This is not only an issue of one temple. It is symptomatic of a bigger issue in India: the neglect of heritage, sacred sites. They are also often plagued with waste-management problems due to heavy crowds and poor planning. Devotion becomes pollution without reliable systems.
Simply cleaning the temple is not sufficient. There must be precise waste disposal rules, an awareness campaign for followers, and that of accountability for the temple committee. Heritage sites must be cleaned and retained because the government needs to protect them.
The Savadatti Yellamma Temple is a symbol of faith and history. To let decay run rampant in rubbish it’s a disrespect to the goddess and the community. Religious persons and temple officials, as well as the government, need to collaborate to give pride of place to this holy hill.
