The Hindu Business Line : Where making temple items is big business

MR RAJA, 38, an M.Com from the University of Madras and an MBA from Osmania University in Andhra Pradesh, says it is destiny and the blessings of elders that got him into the business he is in.

Seated in his shop on NSC Bose Road, at the junction of Nyniappa (Naicken) Street, he adds that his business has grown mainly by word of mouth.

What does he do? Manufacture and sell "temple items" says the business card in English and Tamil that he hands over, which describes his establishment — B.L.T. Stores — as "manufacturers, merchants and exporters" of temple items and also lists those items.

Mr Raja says he belongs to the third generation in his family that is in the same line. But, he adds, it is his generation that has made it more organised, tapped the export market and drawn up plans to open up more shops.

Nyniappa Street in Parry's area is a medley of what Parry's or George Town is all about. It is home to a diverse mix of businesses. Enter the road from NSC Bose Road, you are welcomed by an aroma of perfumes. The first few shops on either side sell a variety of perfumes and the chemicals that go into making them. As you proceed further, the fragrance turns into something stronger and you realise that you are in a stretch of the narrow street where the business of chemicals and solvents dominates.

Then as you near the Kandakottam temple and cross the Rasappa Chetty Street intersection, shops selling metalware — large utensils rarely seen in households nowadays, weighing scales — both manual and electronic, and assorted other items catch your eye. There are a number of small shops along the wall of the Kandakottam temple selling articles of use in temples and for prayers at homes.

Mr Raja estimates that there are at least 300 shops of different sizes in Parry's area that sell temple items. Most of these shops source their requirements — idols of different gods and goddesses, lamps of various sizes and designs — from Kumbakonam and Swamimalai in Thanjavur. They place their orders with the more than 1,000 artisans — a large number of them have been in this business for generations — in Kumbakonam and Swamimalai, says Mr C. Balasubramanian, proprietor, Sakthi Stores, one such shop selling temple items.

However, Mr Raja of B.L.T. Stores has his own establishment a few minutes walk from his NSC Bose Road head office. On the second floor of the building, workmen are busy completing a wooden "gopuram" (tower) for a temple in France, which is due to be shipped in the next couple of days. Others are giving finishing touches to various ornaments while an employee shows you around the place, which is stocked floor to ceiling with various items - lamps, idols, ornamental coverings, tridents and the like.

Mr Raja says he has almost 400 people working in his establishment and he hopes to expand the shops from four now to 18 in Chennai and then open shops in Coimbatore, Tiruchi, Madurai and Tirunelveli. Most of his business is by word of mouth, he says and adds that he has exported temple items to0 Europe, Singapore, Malaysia, the US, Australia and even Norway. A number of them have bought the items for display in their homes, according to him.

According to Mr E. Sasikumar of Sri Senthilnathan Stores, he has about 60 people in Kumbakonam and Swamimalai making these temple items of brass and other metals exclusively for him. He buys small brass pots from Moradabad. He says that he sells not only ornaments used in temples, but those used in other religions too, displaying a crown used in Christianity.

There seem to be a common thread for most of those in this business. They were in related businesses before venturing into this full-fledged. Mr Raja's father and grandfather were in the business of polishing vessels and temple ornaments, while Mr Sasikumar said his family was in the steel vessels business, which closed down. Ask them the size of their business, a shrug is all the reply you get.

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Where making temple items is big business

A look at life through the wrong end of a telescope