Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
CHENNAI, INDIA. June 6, 2009: None of the temple officials have ever seen her, but Rameswaram temple’s largest benefactor, Swiss national Elizabeth Ziegler, has been donating around US$8,000 to $10,000 every year to the Ramanathaswamy temple. Most recently she sent nearly US$440,000 in a single massive donation.
Soon after Bhanumathi Nachair became chairperson of the board of trustees in 2006, she found a letter dated 2004 in which Ms. Ziegler said she wished to make a donation to the temple. “Nobody had replied to that letter,” she says. She faxed Ms. Ziegler, thanking her for the offer and explaining how to proceed. “Elizabeth sent a big donation immediately. That was in 2006. Since then, she has been sending money every year,” says Bhanumathi.
Ms. Ziegler specified how this donation is to be used: Apart from performing daily pujas, the money should be used for the Maha Sivarathri and ‘Rudra puja’ (both once a year) and feeding of a minimum of 101 poor people every December 11.