Lord Balamurugan – The Baby Murugan who is fond of Munch !!
It has always been a custom in Hindu Tradition to offer Prasadam to God. The prasadam will normally be the traditional food that they like. For instance, one can often find laddus served in a Ganesha temple, bowls full of butter served in a Krishna temple and that of ghee in Ayyappa temple.
But have you ever heard of a God who is touched by modernity and started accepting Munch Chocolates as Prasadam? Yes !! The Lord Balamurugan of Chemmukathu Sree Subramaniya Swamy temple at Alappuzha, Kerala is fond of Nestle Munch Chocolates and hence He is fondly called as Munch Murugan !!
According to the temple authorities, this ritual in this started some 6 years back when a little boy insisted to offer his favorite chocolates to Lord Bala Murugan. A Muslim boy once ran around the temple premises and hit every bell of the temple for fun. His parents got angry about his behavior. The kid got sick the same evening and he then kept murmuring Lord Balamurugan’s name. The parents were worried about his condition and went back to the temple with the kid. They offered the items like flowers, sandal paste, fruits, etc., that are usually offered to the Lord in the temple. But the boy refused to offer anything but the Munch chocolate. Miraculously, after this incident, the boy’s condition improved and he got cured completely. Then his news of how Baby Murugan was persuaded by a little boy to change His taste, spread like a wildfire. Since then, local people and the tourists started offering Nestle Munch chocolate to Lord Balamurugan.
Even the flower garlands and lemons were replaced by Munch chocolate garlands. Some devotees also offer “Munch Para”, which is a chocolate offering filled in a traditional vessel that can carry up to 8 kgs of rice. Some other devotees were even seen offering Munch chocolates equal to the body weight. This is traditionally known as “Munch Thulabharam”. Because of this, the temple authorities soon faced the problem of too many chocolates getting accumulated in the temple. This issue was soon resolved when they decided to give away the chocolates as “Prasadam”, once the Pushpanjali and Aarti ceremonies were conducted. Perhaps this is the reason why the temple’s Prasad has now been changed to Munch and other assorted chocolates.
