Venkateswara Temple, Tirumala

Venkateswara Temple, Tirumala
Venkateswara Temple, Tirumala
Religion
Affiliation	Hinduism
Location
Location	Tirupathi
Architecture
Type	South Indian, Kovil
Creator	unknown

Tirupathi is one of the holiest Hindu temples, as well as the richest. It is dedicated to Lord Vishnu and is among the holiest pilgrimage sites for Hindus, spanning the entire spectrum of Hindu religious sects. It is one of the 108 most holy temples in the Vaishnavite tradition, collectively called the 108 Tirupathis. The temple is located in the hill town of Tirupathi, Andra Pradesh, India about 100 miles from Chennai.

File:Venkatajalapathy.jpg

The main deity at Tirupathi

The enormous temple complex, comprises of the smaller traditional temple along with massive modern queuing and pilgrimage holding sites. It receives devotees all the time and it is not unusual for someone to wait for 48 hours in the queue to have his 3 second time before the deity. The main vimana is decorated with gold and is a spectacular site to watch from any distance. The varied names ascribed to the main deity are Balaji, Srinivasa, Venkateswara and Venkatachalapathy. The goddess Sri, or Lakshmi (Vishnu's consort), resides on the chest of Venketeswara thus he is also known by the epithet Srinivasa (the one in whom Sri resides). The deity is seen by devotees as the Kalyuga varada, that is the boon-granting lord of Kalyuga (the fourth and final age of Hindu horology). Tirupati is held in particular reverence by the Vaishnava sect of southern India, known as the Sri Vaishnava. When people travel to Tirupati, they chant "Yedu Kondala Vada Govinda" (in Telugu), "Yezhu malaiyaane Govinda" (in Tamil) or "Tirupati Thimmappana Padakke Govinda" (in Kannada).

The Tirumala temples nestles amidst the peaks of the seven hills of Tirumala. The temple can be approached from Tirupati by a 20 km road. It is a pleasant drive for people who admire the tropical greenery on these hills. Many pilgrims even today take a path by foot making an 11 km trek to the temple. For the devotees, the deity Venkateshwara symbolizes goodness; with his conch he creates the cosmic sound that destroys ignorance and with his disc he destroys evil. Venkateshwara is considered to be the most powerful Hindu deity, he is believed to be the fulfiller of every wish made to him by the devotees.

There are never fewer then 50,000 pilgrims here at any time in a single day. The total number of pilgrims even goes up to 700,000 in a day. The temple staff alone amounts to 18,000. The popularity of the temple can be judged by the annual income which is around six billion rupees.

History

Mythology

The origins of the site are legendary. Like Ranganathaswamy at Srirangam, the main deity is believed to have originated on its own without human effort (Swayambhu), according to Hindu Mythology. Legend goes that the Sage Bhrugu, who according to Hindu mythology is believed to have an extra eye in the sole of his foot, once visited Sri Maha Vishnu. At that time, Vishnu was in a private meeting with his consort, Goddess Lakshmi, and failed to immediately receive and honour the sage. The sage felt humiliated and angry, and kicked Lord Vishnu in the chest. Vishnu did not react and remained silent. Lord Vishnu's chest is believed to be the abode of Goddess Lakshmi. The Goddess felt highly insulted at the sage's misdemeanour and Lord Vishnu's silence at the act. She left Vaikunta, the heavenly abode of Vishnu and Lakshmi.

Lord Vishnu, in an attempt to pacify the sage, got hold of legs of the sage and started to press them gently in a way that was comforting to the sage. During this act, he squished the extra eye that was present in the sole of Bhrugu's foot. The extra eye is believed to represent the sage's egotism. The sage then realised his grave mistake and apologized to Lord Vishnu. Lord Vishnu had then incarnated Himself as Venkateswara and came to earth in search of Lakshmi, who had taken birth as Princess Alamelu (Padmavati) in the household of Akasa Raju. The princess's father agreed to give his daughter's hand in marriage to Venkateswara if he provided proof of his wealth. Towards this end, Venkateswara obtained a heavy loan from Kubera, a god who is considered, accordingly to Hindu mythology, to be the wealthiest entity in the Universe. Princess Padmavati and Lord Venkateswara were then wed.

According to Hindu mythology, the Lord came here in human form to marry Lakshmi and for this he required a huge sum of money. He borrowed it from Kubera, the god of prosperity, and thus the Lord is still indebted to Kubera, and he spends time in Tirupathi to repay his debt to Kubera. The discovery of the Lord's deity was supposed to be an accident. According to folk legends, there was a huge anthill at Tirupati. A farmer heard a voice from the heavens asking him to feed the ants. By chance the local king heard the voice and began supplying milk for the ants himself. His compassion resulted in the liquid uncovering a magnificent idol of Lord Venkateshwara hidden beneath the anthill.

Ancient History of the temple

The beginnings are shrouded in great antiquity and its origins are still a matter of scholarly debate. The Sangam literature of Tamil such as Silapadikaram and Satanar's Manimekalai, dated between 500 B.C to 300 A.D, mentions Thiruvengadam (now named Tirupati) as the northernmost frontier of the Tamil Kingdoms. Other Indian literature dating during the Mauryan and Guptan regimes mention it as "Aadhi Varaha Kshetra" (The ancient site of Varaha). Till the time of Ramanuja, the famous Vaishnava scholar of the 12th century, the identity of the deity was still disputed until he confirmed it to be Vishnu.

It was an established center by the 5th century A.D, and the Alvars or Vaishnava saints belonging to the Bhakti movement in Tamilnadu sung in praise of Lord Venketeswara and its significance in Vaishnavite tradition was next only to Srirangam. The temple was richly endowed by the kings of various dynasties thus adding to its current reputation as the richest and most opulent temple in the world. The Imperial Cholas (who originally built the temple), Hoysalas, the Vijayanagara (including Krishna Deva Raya who led the temple to great popularity) were some of the key contributors for building the temple and donating gold and other ornaments for the temple. Tirupati survived the Muslim invasions of South India, unlike other temples such as the Meenakshi temple in Madurai and Ranganathaswamy temple in Srirangam. It is believed that during the invasions the idol of Sriranganatha, the deity of Srirangam was brought to Tirupati for safekeeping. To commemorate this event, a hall in Tirupati is still known as the Ranganatha mandapa.

Modern History

It was under the regime of the Vijayanagara emperors that the temple attained its current opulence and size with the donation of expensive jewellery made of diamonds of gold. The coronation ceremonies of the emperors were also held at Tirupati. In 1517, Krishnadevaraya, on one of his many visits to the temple, donated gold and jewels enabling the Vimana (inner shrine) roofing to be gilded. The Maratha general Raghoji Bhonsle visited the temple and set up a permanent administration for the conduct of worship in the temple. Among the later rulers who endowed large benefactions were the rulers of Mysore and Gadwal. In 1843, with the coming of the East India Company, the administration of the Shri Venkateshwara temple and a number of shrines was entrusted to Seva Dossji of the Hathiramji Mutt at Tirumala as Vicaranakarta for nearly a century until 1933, when the temple was under the administrative charge of the mahants. The Madras legislature passed a special act in 1933 whereby the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) committee was invested with powers of administration and control through a commissioner appointed by the Government of Madras. A Ryot Advisory Council was formed for the management of the estates of the TTD, and was assisted by a Religious Advisory Council with regard to religious matters.

Festivals

The town celebrates most Vaishnava festivals including Vaikunta Ekadasi, Rama Navami and janmashtami with great splendor, while the Brahmotsavam celebrated every year during September is the most important festivals in Tirumala, when it receives millions of devotees over a short span of a week. Rathasapthami (Magha Shuddha Saptami) is another festival, celebrated during February, when Lord Venkateswara idol will be taken procession around the temple chariots^[1].

Relevant info about the temple

The Venkateswara Suprabhatam, being the morning recital of prayers and songs of awakening, is believed to have been written and sung by one of Ramanuja's disciples who visited the temple with his Guru.

Traditionally Kurubas build temples on top of the mountains and worshiped the Almighty. As Venkateshwara has strong following from the Backward Castes who are traditionally Shiva worshipers in south India. Venkateswara has a big Dalit following also. This famous temple must have lot of history. There is a Govindaraya Vishnu temple in the Tirupati town down below the hills with Vishnu in Yoga Nidra with Sridevi and Bhoodevi next to him.

Several composers composed beautiful keertanas about Lord Venkateshwara, most notable amongst them being Tyagaraja and Annamacharya. Annamacharya is a legendary devotee of Lord Venkateswara and composed songs almost exclusively about the deity.

Related Temples

Thirupathi is one of the 108 holy temples in Vaishnavite system and is related to a number of other temples. Some deities including the ones in Uppiliappan temple, near Kumbakonam and Varagur temple, near Trichi are considered to be the "divine brothers" of Lord Venkateshwara.