temple fees?

[heather.s]

I've been researching some temples in India and I'm finding that some are charging money for certain poojas?

Is this right or am I reading something incorrectly?

[Eastern Mind]

Vannakkam: Most South Indian style temples charge fees for sponsoring, individual pujas, etc. It covers supplies, priest pay, and more. The bigger the puja, the more it costs. This South indian style temple in St. Louis is a basic example.

http://www.hindutemplestlouis.org/Temple/Poojas/PrivatePoojas.aspx

However, in India the pujas are much much cheaper. For example, usually the archana is no more then R5 which is about 20 cents US. We were abhishekm sponsors at Palani Hills and it was R600. $12 US. There are also 'shortcut' lines for lack of a better word. The free darshan queue can get very long (10 hours or more) at some of the busier temples, so for R20 or R200 the wait time will be substantially reduced. But entrance is 99% of the time free. Sometimes there is a 'tourist' fee though, like at a museum. Even those are reasonably priced.

Aum Namasivaya