Thiruvananthapuram, Dec. 4: The Guruvayur temple is used to getting gifts — from rice to baby elephants — but this one had the authorities stumped.

P.N.C. Menon, the managing director of the Bangalore-based Sobha Developers, today gave the Krishna temple in Thrissur 75 kg of gold after weighing himself in it. Worth a whopping Rs 6.6 crore, the offering is the largest the temple has ever received, according to officials.

Menon, who earned most of his millions as an interior decorator in Muscat, made the offering on his 58th birthday.

The tulabharam, as the ritual is known, is performed for wishes fulfilled or favours received.

Recently, the Sobha Developers public issue was oversubscribed 11 times. Menon is also planning huge investments in Kerala. He is in talks with the Left government to set up IT infrastructure in association with Cochin International Airport Ltd at Nedumbassery.

Today’s offering came in the form of gold biscuits. Extra security had been deployed at the temple and the treasure was immediately stacked away in the temple board strong room.

Devotees usually make offerings of rice, sugar and plantain. The temple also receives baby elephants, and its captive population — 63 at last count — is perhaps the largest in the world.

ADMK president Jayalalithaa, actor Suresh Gopi and former Kerala transport minister R. Balakrishna Pillai are some of the famous names who have offered elephants to the deity.

Another offering that had caused a flutter was the one made by Vijay Mallya at the Sabarimala hill shrine in the late 1990s. The liquor baron got the sanctum-sanctorum coated in gold at a cost of over Rs 1 crore.

However, Mallya’s gesture lost a bit of glitter when the high court turned down his request to instal his board at the sanctorum. He had to be content with setting one up at the foothills in Pampa.