Ashwathamma, a 80-year-old woman hailing from Kanchagodu village in Dakshina Kannada district who collects collects alms from the devotees on the temple premises of the district as well Udupi has donated Rs 9 lakh to the temples to use it for its “Annasantarpane” programmes.

Ashwathamma who according to occasions and circumstances shifts her points to temples deposit her daily collection to the financial institutions to her “Pigmy” account and withdraw and donate to the temples in rotation wise after the account was funded with Rs 1 lakh.The octagenarian Ashwathamma, who hails from Kanchagodu village in Kundapur taluk of Udupi district in Karnataka, has been begging near various temples for the past eighteen years after her husband passed away.

The old lady suffered another major setback when her children died and was forced to beg as she had no source of income. She used only a small portion of her savings for her personal expenses and the excess money is deposited in a bank which is used for donations to temples and charity.

The woman collected Rs 1 lakh as she was begging for about a month in front of Polali temple during its annual jathra mahotsava and the money was donated to the temple. On Friday, she handed over the cash to the trustees of Polali temple for the mass feeding programme of the temple.

Ashwathamma said that she was returning the money that society offered to her and her only prayer is that no one should remain hungry.

This is not the first time that Ashwathamma has shown her generosity and had made donations to various temples to the tune of six lakh in the past 18 years, TOI said in a report. When Ashwathamma’s earnings grew, she decided to give it back to God.

So far, she has offered “Annadana” to more than 1 lakh devotees at various places in Shabarimala. She had donated tens of lakhs to various temples, like Sri Aiyappa Temple in Sabarimala and temples in Polali, Saaligrama and others. Apart from these, she has also made donations to various orphanages in Udupi and Dakshina Kannada districts.

The Executive officer of Rajarajeshwari Temple in Polali said that Ashwathamma expressed her desire to donate the money through a restaurant owner near the temple on Friday and added that it was the goodwill gesture of Ashwathamma that she did not use the money she earned through begging to accumulate wealth.