Over 1,200 Hindu temples in India will pawn their gold to maintain running costs during the pandemic

More than 1,200 of India’s Hindu temples will pawn their vast gold supplies as they struggle to maintain running costs during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The unprecedented move comes after both Hindu devotees and tourists stopped visiting temples over the past five months as India struggles to contain the world’s fastest growing Covid-19 epidemic, recording over 3.2 million cases.

Daily cash donations from these worshippers had previously paid for the ongoing maintenance of temples and paid staff members' wages.

The famous hilltop Sabarimala Temple in the southern state of Kerala, is said to be among those looking to loan its gold supplies to the Reserve Bank of India. The temple is dedicated to the celibate Hindu God Ayyappan and is usually one of the world's largest pilgrimage sites, attracting 50 million devotees annually.

“We are in a big crisis… For the last five months, no devotees were visiting our temples but we have to spend around ₹50 crore (£5.1 million) in salaries and others per month,” said N Vasu, president of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), a Kerala Government-run organisation managing Hindu temples, in Livemint.

“To tide over the crisis, we have in-principle agreed to deposit the gold in the form of coins, bars and others donated by devotees.”

Mr Basu said the TDB would deposit around 1,000kg of gold after already selling unused lamps and traditional brass utensils to generate funds in May.

Worshippers have donated as much as 8.8 million pounds of gold to the country’s largest temples, according to a World Gold Council Report.

India’s influential Hindu nationalist groups have advocated for devotees to return to temples but public health experts have advised caution.

The third million of India's Covid-19 infections were recorded in just over two weeks - faster than both the United States and Brazil - and its overwhelmed public hospitals face a shortage of healthcare professionals and beds.

Some temples opened their doors on Wednesday for the first time since mid-March, in the hope of raising funds through donations, with Covid-19 restrictions in place.

An online booking system was set up in the Lord Padmanabha Swamy temple in the city of Thiruvananthapuram to limit the numbers of worshippers at any one point, while floor markings ensured devotees could adhere to social distancing.