Part of the liquor is offered to the god in a plate and the rest is returned to the devotee as ‘prasad’.

“It’s a question of demand and supply. If you try to choke the supply of a commodity, it becomes available from several other sources,” explains Raju Maharaj, a relative of the temple priest.

“It’s a private arrangement done for the benefit of devotees. If it’s not made available here, they will have to go far to get it.”

No wonder, “daaru ki bottle” is the only mantra chanted outside the temple located near the Shipra river. Inside, devotees exhort the priest to make the idol drink every bit of the liquor poured in a plate for convenience.

Manager Viresh Upadhyay says to get around the problem of illegal trade, the temple administration committee proposed to the Government that it be allowed to sell liquor in very small quantities right inside the premises. “It would have ensured a steady source of income for us,” he said

But the proposal was never accepted for obvious reasons. According to a committee member, the official contract for sale of liquor runs into excess of Rs 50 crore in the town.

Excluding such a large area from the sales territory would affect the contractor a lot.