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Sri Venkateswara Temple, Tirumala (Tirupati Balaji)

Tirumala hills, Tirupati district, Andhra Pradesh

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Sri Venkateswara Temple, Tirumala (Tirupati Balaji)
Photo: Nikhilb239, CC BY-SA 4.0

About

The Sri Venkateswara temple at Tirumala, known as Tirupati Balaji, is one of the most visited temples in the world. The seven hills of Seshachalam are seen as the seven hoods of Adishesha, and the temple stands on the seventh peak, Venkatadri, beside the Swami Pushkarini tank. Lord Vishnu stands here as Venkateswara, and the place is called the Vaikuntha of Kalyug. Above the sanctum rises the gold-plated vimana called Ananda Nilayam. Many devotees offer their hair as a vow, and the Tirupati laddu prasad is famous across India. It is one of the 108 Divya Desams.

The story

A Puranic story says the sage Bhrigu once set out to decide which god should receive the first share of a yajna. When he reached Vaikuntha, Lord Vishnu was sleeping, and the sage kicked the Lord on the chest. The Lord was not angry; instead he worried about the sage's foot. But Mata Lakshmi could not bear this insult, for the Lord's chest is her home, and she left Vaikuntha. Searching for her, the Lord came to earth and settled on the Seshachalam hills, which felt like Vaikuntha to him. Later Lakshmi was born as Padmavati in the home of King Akasha Raja, and she married Srinivasa (Venkateswara). A popular story says the Lord took a loan from Kubera for the wedding, and devotees believe their offerings in the hundi help him repay it. In history, the temple's beginnings are linked to the Tondaman kings, and it was later enlarged by the Pallava, Chola, Pandya and Vijayanagara rulers. The gift of the Pallava queen Samavai in 966 CE is the oldest recorded endowment. Emperor Krishnadevaraya came for darshan many times. Ramanujacharya set the order of worship here, and thousands of songs of the saint Annamacharya are kept in the temple, engraved on copper plates.

Visiting

The temple is open all year; September to February is pleasant. Weekends, holidays, Brahmotsavam and Vaikuntha Ekadashi are very crowded. Many devotees climb on foot by the stepped path from Alipiri. Wear simple traditional clothes. By tradition the yatra is complete after darshan of Mata Padmavati at Tiruchanur; the Sri Govindaraja Swamy temple is in Tirupati town.

Festivals

  • Srivari Brahmotsavam: the nine-day annual festival (September to October)
  • Vaikuntha Ekadashi (Dhanurmas, December to January): darshan through the Vaikuntha Dwaram
  • Ratha Saptami (Magh Shukla Saptami): processions on seven vahanas in a single day
  • Teppotsavam: the float festival in the Swami Pushkarini

Famous temples

Sources