The Mahakaleshwar temple in Ujjain saw an offering on Tuesday that is rarely witnessed inside its premises. Devotees at this shrine usually offer gold, silver or cash to Baba Mahakal, but this time a couple from Jabalpur chose a very different way to express their devotion. They presented some of the rarest and most expensive mango varieties found anywhere in the world, and the gesture instantly became the talk of the temple complex. Visitors gathered in large numbers just to get a look at the unusual offering, curious about mangoes most people had never even heard of.
Who Are The Couple And What They Offered
Sankalp Singh Parihar, a resident of Jabalpur, grows hybrid mangoes of rare global varieties on his farm. On Tuesday, he travelled to the Mahakaleshwar temple along with his wife Rani Singh. The couple performed a full ritual worship of Baba Mahakal and then offered eight premium mangoes weighing around three kilograms as bhog. These mangoes belong to some of the rarest and costliest varieties in the world, together valued at around Rs 8 lakh in the international market. Once devotees present at the temple learned about the mangoes' rarity and price, they rushed to catch a glimpse of them before the offering was taken away.
Miyazaki And Other Varieties Offered
Rani Singh said that this time, some of the world's most expensive mangoes were offered to Baba Mahakal. Among them was Japan's famous Miyazaki mango, also known as Taiyo-no-Tomago, whose international market price runs up to around Rs 2.70 lakh per kilogram. Alongside it, an Australian mango and the R2-E2 variety were also placed before the deity. Sankalp Singh Parihar said the success of his 12-acre Mahakal Hybrid Farm is entirely due to the grace of Baba Mahakal, and it is this faith that has led him, every year since 2014, to offer his very first harvest to Bhagwan Mahakal before it goes anywhere else.
18 Dogs And CCTV Cameras Guard The Orchard
An orchard growing such expensive mangoes obviously needs equally tight security. Sankalp Parihar said 18 dogs of a foreign breed are kept specifically to guard the orchard round the clock. These dogs are let loose inside the garden every night and keep watch until morning, protecting the trees from intruders. During the day, the orchard is monitored through CCTV cameras instead. Besides the Miyazaki, the orchard is home to a total of 24 varieties of mangoes, including Mallika, Aamrapali and Black Mango, spread across the farm.
15 Years Of Farming, 52 Exclusive Breeds
Sankalp Parihar is a devotee of Baba Mahakal and has been cultivating mangoes for the past 15 years. His 12-acre orchard in Jabalpur contains around 1,000 mango trees across 24 varieties, along with 52 exclusive breeds of mangoes that are rarely found elsewhere in the country. He said the Miyazaki mango is priced at Rs 2.70 thousand per kilogram in the international market. Like every year, he once again offered mangoes at the feet of Mahakaleshwar this year as a mark of his devotion. After the worship was complete, the priest returned the Japanese Miyazaki mango to the couple as prasad, a gesture they considered especially precious.
