Khairatabad ganesh laddu is an excellent attraction and part of its legacy enjoyed by the devotees. Mythologically, Laddu is considered to be Lord Ganesha’s favourite delicacy as a reason it has become part of our ritual to offer laddu on this auspicious occasion. It is also believed that offering laddu to the Lord Ganesha brings great fortune and blessings to the whole humankind.
Laddu is a delicious sweet made from gram flour, ghee, sugar, and milk. It is one of the most popular sweets in India and is often made during festivals and celebrations. The laddu is then shaped into a ball and decorated with edible silver or gold leaf.
The story behind Khairatabad ganesh laddu
The gigantic laddu in Khairatabad has become a symbol of its identity for millions of devotees. The puja and its location is not just recognized due to the lord Ganesha but also the laddu. Till 2009, the puja committee at Khairatabad always ensured to keep a 50-kilogram laddu inside the pandal. Subsequently, from 2010 to 2015, the laddu was delivered by PVVS Mallikarjun Rao, also known as Malli Babu, a sweet maker from the Andhra Pradesh village of Tapeswaram in the East Godavari region. Initially, the laddu used to get made in Tapeswaram before bringing to the Khairatabad Ganesh Utsav. The laddu became famous as Tapeswaram laddu.
Rao gave a laddu weighing 500 kg in 2010, and by 2015, it had grown to 6,000 kilograms, making it a remarkable year due to the heaviest laddu ever offered in the idol’s history.
In 2016, Rao received a request from the Ganesha Utsav Committee at Khairatabad to decrease the laddu weight to 600 kg. They were facing problems while distributing the laddu to devotees. After hearing this, Rao got angry and cancelled the contract with them. Subsequently, Rao entered the Guinness World Records by creating a laddu weighing 29,465 kg which was presented to a Ganesh idol at Visakhapatnam.
Since 2016, J. Tanay Rana and his family ,who run an air-cooler business in Hyderabad, has been presenting the laddo. The presented laddu weighed 62 kg in 2016 and reached 1,100 kg in 2021.
Once the puja ceremony is completed, the laddu is distributed to the devotees, ranging between 2,000 and 3,000 every year.