Am posting this information because I know many readers will wish to make a ghee offering to the Deepam Cauldron, and thereupon receive prasad taken directly from the inside of the Deepam Pot after the Festival is concluded. Tickets in payment of the ghee offering will be available from the Temple from November 10, 2012. The prasad is a black sticky residue packed individually in small plastic sleeves.
“Devotees are welcomed to pay and send their offerings towards "Ghee Pots". Devotees can arrange Rs.200/- for a half kg (500gms), Rs.100/- for 250 gms and Rs.50/- for a small offering, in person or through DD (Demand Draft) or MO (Money Order) or Bank Cheque in favour of; "Executive Officer, Sri Arunachaleswarar Temple, Tiruvannamalai" Landline: (0)4175-252438.
The devotee should include their proper contact address. Devotees who send a Ghee Pot offering will receive the Deepam Cauldron prasad through the post after the Aarudhra Festival which is celebrated during the Tamil month Maarghai (i.e. will be mailed around mid-January).”
I regularly participate in the Ghee Pot scheme, however I have never done so by post, so cannot give any specific information as to how efficiently the Temple runs the prasad postal scheme. But the ghee will be purchased and offered into the Cauldron.
The Deepam will be lit at dusk (around 6.00 p.m.) on the evening of November 27, 2012 and thereupon it will be kept alight for between 7 and 13 days (the exact time is calculated by the priests).
Below are photographs of the preparation of the Deepam pot in the morning of the 2011 Deepam.
