Devotee details belong to the temple

Who owns the records

The temple or trust owns everything entered into its register: donation entries, receipts, seva bookings, devotee details, kitchen records and accounts. We hold that information on the temple’s behalf and act on the temple’s instructions.

We do not treat devotee information as our own asset. It is not combined across temples, not used to build a profile of any devotee, and not used to promote anything to them.

What is recorded

The register holds only what a temple office would ordinarily write down:

• Donation entries: amount, donation head, mode of payment, receipt number, date and the staff member who made the entry
• Devotee details where the devotee gives them: name, mobile number, city, gotra or nakshatra for sankalpam, and the language they prefer
• Seva bookings: seva, slot, priest assigned, receipt number and the names to be read
• Kitchen records: stock received and issued, preparations, portions prepared and served
• Accounts: vouchers, purchases, salaries, bank settlements and reconciliation notes
• Staff records: name, role, the screens they are allowed to see and a log of entries they made

A devotee can make an offering without giving any personal detail. Name and mobile number are optional at the counter, and a receipt is issued either way.

Messages to devotees

Messages are sent only to devotees who asked to receive them. The consent is recorded with the date, the channel and the person who recorded it. Without that consent, no message goes out.

A devotee can stop messages by replying to the message, by telling the counter, or through the link in the message. The stop is recorded against their number and is not undone unless the devotee gives fresh consent.

Devotee numbers are never sold, rented, shared with other temples or given to anyone for promotion. They are used for the temple’s own communication and nothing else.

Payments and bank details

Online donations are processed by licensed payment partners and settle into the trust’s own bank account. We never hold temple funds and cannot withdraw from the trust account.

Card numbers and UPI credentials are handled by the payment partner and are not stored in the register. What the register keeps is the transaction reference, the amount, the donation head and the settlement status, which is what the accounts need.

Who can see what

Access follows the role the temple assigns. A counter clerk sees their own window and the day’s entries. The accountant sees the books. Trustees see statements and summaries across the institution.

Every entry carries the name of the person who made it and the time it was made. Corrections are recorded as corrections with the original entry still visible, so nothing can be altered quietly.

Our own staff access a temple’s register only when the temple asks for help with a specific problem, and such access is logged and limited to what the problem needs.

How long records are kept

Donation records, receipts and accounting entries are kept for as long as the trust needs them for its own accounts, audit and statutory filings, because a receipt is of no use if it disappears before the audit.

Devotee contact details are kept while the devotee is in contact with the temple. When a devotee asks to be removed, contact details are deleted while the donation record and receipt number stay, since the trust must still account for the offering.

How records are protected

• Connections between the counter and the register are encrypted
• Each staff member has their own login; shared logins are discouraged and can be disabled
• The register is backed up daily, and backups are kept apart from the live records
• Access by role is enforced on the server, not only hidden on the screen
• Entry logs record who did what and when, and cannot be edited by users

No system is beyond failure. If records held for a temple are affected by a security incident, the temple office is told promptly, with what is known, what is affected and what is being done.

What a devotee can ask for

A devotee can ask the temple office what is recorded about them, ask for a correction to their name, mobile number or language, ask to stop messages, or ask for their contact details to be removed.

Such requests are made to the temple, because the records belong to the temple. Where the temple needs our help to carry out the request, we help.

This website

The forms on this website collect only what is needed to arrange a visit or to prepare a register: a name, a temple or trust name, a city, an email address, a rough idea of daily footfall and a preferred language. The sum check on the form exists to keep automated submissions out.

This website does not run advertising trackers and does not profile visitors. The language you choose is remembered in your own browser so the site opens in that language next time.

Changes to this policy

If this policy changes in a way that affects how temple or devotee records are handled, temples using the register are told before the change takes effect, through the office contact they gave us.