Our activities

Annadana — Daily Free Meals

A hot, freshly cooked meal served every single day to pilgrims, students and villagers, with no questions asked.

The annadana hall at the meal — families and children seated in long rows down both sides of the floor with steel plates of rice in front of them, the servers working the aisle between

What this work involves

No one who reaches Melukote should leave hungry. The foundation's kitchen runs every day of the year, serving pilgrims, gurukulam students, temple staff and families from the surrounding villages.

When, and for whom

The meal is served from twelve until two in the annadana hall. Nobody is asked who they are or what they can afford, and on festival days the number served multiplies several times over.

What keeps it open

The contributions and volunteer hours of devotees, and nothing else. When a month is tight the kitchen is the last thing the trust cuts.

At a glance

Served daily, year-round
1,000+ people on an ordinary day
5,000+ on festival days

In pictures

What it looks like

Select any photograph to see it full size.

Keep reading

Our other work

Vedic Education

A residential gurukulam where students study the Vedas, Agama, Jyothishya and Sanskrit.

Gurupeeta — the Pooja Mandira

The Gurupeeta's own shrine, where the Sri Varadaraja Swami that Sri Ramanuja worshipped in person receives his daily aradhana.

Goshala — Care of the Cows

Twenty and more desi cows — Malenadu Gidda, Punganur and Hallikar — kept at the kshetra, cared for through old age, their milk offered in the temple's own worship.

Temple Pratishtha — Vastu and Consecration

Vastu guidance for a temple being built, and the pratishtha that puts it into worship — both to the Agama.

Workshop — Training Priests

A residential apprenticeship where priests learn to conduct poojas by standing at real ones, in the tradition kept here.

Samashrayanam — Dasappa Deekshe

The formal initiation in which the acharya transmits grace, transcendental knowledge and the energy behind them to a disciple.

Jyothishya — Astrology

Jyothishya as this family has read it across generations, and a sitting any devotee can ask for.

Cultural Preservation

Festivals, poojas, classical dance and music, and guided heritage tours that keep Melukote's traditions in daily practice.

Environmental Care

Tree planting, upkeep of the groves and water bodies, and agri-tourism that brings visitors onto the land itself.

Would you like to help?

The gurukulam teaches free of cost and the kitchen serves whoever arrives — both carried entirely by what devotees give.

Give now by UPI or bank transfer, with an 80G certificate if you need one. Or write to the office to sponsor a particular day of annadana, offer time during a festival, or ask what is needed most — those take a date and a person rather than a payment.

Give to the kshetra Write to the office