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Annapoorna Kitchen, Dharmasthala

The Annapoorna kitchen is located inside Dharmasthala, an Indian temple town on the banks of the Nethravathi River in the Belthangadi taluk of the Dakshina Kannada district in Karnataka, India. The temple is one the major locations for the worship of Lord Manjunatha. The kitchen was featured in Mega-kitchens of National geographic channel as one of the most efficient and resourceful mass kitchens of India.

History

Dharmasthala Temple: https://www.shridharmasthala.org/

Dharmasthala from time and on has been known for its Chaturdanas. Namely Annadana, Aushadha dana, Abhayadana and Vidyadana.Annadana, of all has always been considered as the most revered service to humanity, as it caters to the basic existence of life. Every one of the thousands of pilgrims, who enter the portals of Dharmasthala to seek the blessings of Lord Manjunatha, is offered free food.

In 1995, Veerendra Heggde decided to build Annapurna. Every visitor is a welcome guest irrespective of caste, creed, culture or status. At the Annapoorna kitchen, the poor and the rich are fed alike, that is the power of spirituality is the ideology that the temple reinforces.

The Kitchen and Operations

Everyday around 30000-40000 people are expected in the kitchen of Annapurna and on special occasions like the last day of Deepotsava as many as 100,000 of people are drawn in by the festivities.

The kitchen complex has been constructed in a bottom up design architecture to facilitate ingredient procurement and waste disposal most efficiently. The dining hall is approximately 19800 sq. ft. which is enough to contain 4 basketball courts. The hall is divided into 7 bays of 6.5m breadth. Each bay has a capacity of 400 people. The cooking process starts around 8am in the morning and is wound by 11.30 ,the pilgrims start heading to the food area around 12.15pm.  The kitchen is self sufficient in every way, all the required ingredients namely vegetables, spices, milk, milk products, grains and cereals are cultivated and produced in house by the farmers facilitated by SKDRDP.

Funding

As mentioned the Dharmasthala makes maximum efforts to fulfill its requirements through self-cultivation. It however procures the remaining half of its requirements through other different sources. The devotees also contribute large amounts of rice, pulses and other ingredients to the temple. One of the rituals performed, the Tulabhara Sevas involves the contribution of gifts equal to body weight, also provides for the needs of the kitchen.

Purpose

Service to God. It has been a folklore and a tradition not to leave Dharmasthala without savouring the meal, doing so leaves your pilgrimage incomplete; the helpers working in the Annapurna choultry, do their best to preserve this sacred belief.

The Team

A dedicated team consisting of volunteers and the Heggade family work towards sustaining and attaining the purpose of the Annapurna Kitchen.

The position of the Heggade of Dharmasthala is a unique one, unknown in any other religious center in India. In the tradition of this Kshetra, he represents Lord Manjunatha. He is a pious grihastha or householder with numerous religious, social and cultural responsibilities towards the society.

Dharmadhikari Veerendra Heggde

The Heggade is religious and installed head of Shri Manjunatha Swamy Temple, he becomes the representative of Lord Manjunatha and performs all his responsibilities accordingly as per tradition. After installation as the Heggade, his religious duties include propagating the tradition of Dharma in accordance with the command of the Daivas, who accept him as their foster son and ensure that the traditional rituals are observed regularly in the temple of Lord Manjunatha.

Discharging his responsibilities true to his conscience and acting on the precepts of religion, the Heggade acquires an aura of divinity which enables him to function as a representative of Lord Manjunatha and other Dharma Daivas. He executes his social responsibilities as a pious grihastha by extending the four traditional Danas – Anna Dana (Feed), Aushadha Dana (Heal),Vidya Dana (Educate) and Abhaya Dana(Protect from fear). These being the gifts of food, medicine, education and freedom from fear. Since the Heggade is regarded as the voice of Lord Manjunatha, he is expected to dispense justice, advice and munificence to whoever approaches him with his problems and needs.

The Heggades have done this duty for 21 generations. Keeping up the tradition is the full time occupation. Annadana of meals offerings to pilgrims has been the tradition of Heggade family. Dr Veerendra Heggade as the chief administrator of Dharamsthala’s temple properties. The temple runs mega kitchen and need its dedicated crew of workers to hit the ground running and whip up the large amounts of meals.

Quantity and Type of food served/prepared

Around 1 lakh people are expected on the 5^th day of the Deepotsava. 6500-8000 kilos. of high quality Sauta Masuri Rice is washed and cooked using steam boilers for one time slot. 4000 kilos of vegetables are chopped by 25 workers for 4-5 hours. 3000 litres of Sambar is prepared using around 45 kilos of spices along with 4000 liters of Rassam. A curry called Kuttu is a curry of tomatoes and cucumber is also prepared along with Buttermilk and the sacred Prassadam, sweet made of jaggery, flour, ground pulses and ghee.

Hygiene Policy

A dedicated crew of people is assigned to clean and look after the halls after each batch of people. When one of the batches is eating, simultaneously other batches are being served or cleaned up after. It takes 13 minutes to seat, serves and clean up after diners leave. One of the most notable aspects of the Annapurna kitchen is the waste disposal system, any waste that is collected from the kitchen is then transported to the Dharmasthala waste management plant, and dumped into the composts to generated manure. The same manure is then used in cultivation of vegetables for the kitchen, so ideally in this process there is absolutely no waste generated, or is close to 1 to 2%. 1000-3000 kilos of organic compost is generated from the chopping to the eating including the disposable leaf plates.

Survival Strategy

The Annapurna kitchen team consisting of the volunteers and the Heggde family are active towards the inclusion of new technology for faster and efficient processes. The architecture of the disposal system is of a kind that helps foster the implementation of sustainable energy forms. Whenever they find something new in the market which they think will be helpful for the kitchen they explore and implement it. Many devotees also come with their ideas and innovations to the family and if the family feels that it has potential they look into it. The traditional systems are not forgotten and the head of the Heggde family, Veerendra Heggde seeks permission of Lord Manjunatha before the implementation of any new technology. To make Annapoorna Choultry truly eco friendly, Shri D.Veerendra Heggade makes sure that the kitchen is run on alternate forms of energy.