Tirupati is the most
popular and most visited holy place and pilgrim centre in Andhra Pradesh at
present. It attracts for about 60000 pilgrims everyday; being the most crowded
and the busiest pilgrim centre. Tirupati’s history is very much controversial
as every 10th person has his own version of the holy place’s
history. So, let’s discuss briefly about the history of Tirupati or most
popularly known as the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam.
Tirupati is located towards the south of Andhra Pradesh in
Chittoor district. The holy hill town is around 600km away from Hyderabad and
138km from Chennai. The Tirumala hill is raised about 853m from the sea level
and has a chain of seven hills which represent the seven heads of Adisesha (the
first serpent), thus, obtaining the name of Seshachalam hills. The seven peaks
of the Seshachalam hills are known after the names of Vedic characters. They
are Vrushabhadri-known after Nandi, Lord Shiva’s vahana; Anjanadri, hill of
Lord Hanuman; Neeladri-known after the name of Neela Devi. It is said that the
hair offered by devotees to the Lord is taken by Neela Devi as it is a boon to
Sri Venkateshwara from her. The fourth peak is known as Garudadri after the
name of Garuda (the holy eagle) which is the vahana of Lord Venkateshwara. Next
come Seshadri after the name of Sesha; Narayadri where the SriVari Paadalu are
located and the seventh one is Venkatadri where the main deity and the temple are
located.
Lord Venkateshwara, the presiding deity of the temple is
considered to be one of the ten incarnations of Lord Vishnu. Venkateshwara is
also known with other names such as Balaji, Govinda and Srinivasa. There is
holy water pond beside the temple known as Pushkarini. Pilgrims stand in
queues, in and around the temple to take the blessings of the Lord.
History:
The most committed devotees of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam
are the Pallavas of Kanchipuram, the Cholas of Tanjore and the Vijayanagara
Pradhans. The Lord is said to be residing at Tirumala since 5000 years from
now. It is also said that he took the form of a statue when his two wives,
Lakshmi Devi and Padmavathi Devi had a quarrel with each other. While the
quarrel was going on, the Lord went 7 steps away from them and took the form of
a statue. These 7 steps are considered to be the present seven hills of
Tirumala.
The Vijayanagara kings have contributed a lot to the temple.
Sri Krishnadevaraya of the same dynasty made continuous efforts to develop the
temple and its interiors. He made the interiors of the temple with gold and
also the Vimana with gold under which the main deity stands. The emperor has a
statue of himself in the temple which is visible for the visitors till date.
There is Varahaswamy temple towards the right side of Sri Venkateshwara’s temple. As per the history, Sri Varaha is said to be the actual owner of the Tirumala hills and the area where the main temple is located. He gifted the land to Venkateshwara and in turn took a promise that the first homage must be paid to him and from then it has become a tradition that whoever visits Tirumala have to first visit the temple of Varaha and then visit Lord Venkateshwara. It is also said that the Lord feels happy when his devotees visit the Varaha temple first and then come to him.
There are 3 Mahadwaras or main entrances to the temple made
of bronze, silver and gold respectively. Apart from these, there are 7 doors
from the main statue of the deity which are considered to be the main doors of
Vaikuntam which is the residence of Lord Vishnu. There are two angels at these
dwaras who are a security to the Lord--Shankhanidhi and Padmanidhi by name. There
are many Mandapas in the temple namely Sri Krishnadevaraya Mandapa, Ranganayaka
Mandapa, Addala Mandapa which is made up of mirrors, Tirumalaraya Mandapa and
Dhwajasthambha Mandapa where the main flagstaff of the temple is situated. It
is a ritual that one must see the Dhwajasthambha before entering into the main
temple.
There is a temple called Govindaraja Temple on the first hill
of Seshachalam hill chain. Govindaraja is considered to be the treasurer of the
Lord who counts the amount of offerings given by devotees to the Venkateshwara
everyday and hands it over to Kubera. Lord Venkateshwara took a certain amount
of debt from Kubera to bear the expenses of his marriage with Padmavathi Devi
and it is said that the Lord will continue to repay the amount till the end of
Kaliyuga. There is a Hundi kept in the temple for the devotees to put their
offerings in it. Tirupati is considered to be the second richest temple in
India while Ananthapadmanabha Swamy temple in Kerala is in the first place.
Lord Venkateshwara has many types of offerings and prayers to
him while his day starts with Suprabhata Seva which is done to wake up the Lord
and ends with Pavalimpu Seva which is done for Him to sleep and in between
there are many Sevas such as Oonjal Seva, Dolotsavam, Naada Neerajanam, Sahasra
Deepalankarana Seva (with 1000 lights) and many others. The main attraction and
the most crowded time in Tirupati is the time of Brahmotsavas which is done
during the 9 days of Dasara festival and Rathasaptami. Brahmotsavas is a
colourful and huge festival in Tirumala where the Lord moves in his vahanas
across the 4 Maada Streets (the holy streets around the temple) in Tirumala.
Apart from these, the Tirupati Laddu is world famous and known for its taste.
It is prepared with pure ghee and given to all the devotees of the temple. It
is also a fact that some of the pilgrims visit the temple for the sake of
Laddu. Such famous and such delicious it is!!
The temple of Padmavathi Devi is located at Alivelumangapuram
which is in the town of Tirupati down the hill. It is said that every night
after giving blessings to his thousands of devotees, the Lord climbs down the
hill to meet his wife and discuss that day’s schedule. There is a park near
Padmavathi temple where the two deities take a walk and take rest.
There are many steps on the seven hills by which the devotees
travel along and reach the main temple. It is believed that travelling by these
steps is a holy trait. There are two ways one of which is called SriVari Mettu
which is said to be the way taken by the Lord himself and another way for the devotees.
There is also a roadway along the seven hills laid by the Government of Andhra
Pradesh for the ones who cannot climb the steps.
Coming to the interests of the Lord, it is said that
Venkateshwara loves music and musicians a lot. One such devotee is Sri
Tallapaka Annamacharya who is a great musician and composer. He wrote and
composed around 36000 songs and surrendered them to the Lord. At present, only
12000 songs are into limelight and the others are kept in a safe vault called
Annamayya kosagaram in the main temple. There are also many other composers and
devotees of the Lord such as Purandharadasa and Muttuswamy Deekshitaar who also
wrote many songs on Sri Venkateshwara.
Thus, with all these aspects, the Tirumala Tirupati
Devasthanam is wonderful and one of the powerful holy places in A.P. It is a
whole package of pilgrim centre with a lot of tourist attractions and also the richest
in Andhra Pradesh. So, let’s not wait anymore to visit the holy Tirupati and
chant the Lord’s name—Govinda...Govinda....
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