Sri Venkateswara Temple

Tirupati is known for Lord Venkateshwara Temple, one of the most visited pilgrimage centers in the country. It is situated in the Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh. Home to the diety Govinda, Tirupati is one of the oldest cities in India and finds mention in plenty of ancient Vedas and Puranas. The main temple is located at Tirumala which is one of the seven hills in Tirupati. The temple is believed to be placed where Lord Venkateshwara took the form of an idol.

The temple is spread over an area of 26 Kilometres and is visited by nearly 50,000 pilgrims every day, the temple is also commonly referred to as the Temple of Seven Hills. There is everything about the Sri Venkateshwara Temple which is majestic. There is non-stop chanting of ‘Om Namo Venkatesaya’, there is a huge pilgrim rush and there is an 8-feet tall idol of Lord Venkateshwara.

History of Sri Venkateswara Temple

The most popular legend associated with the temple is that it is the abode of Lord Vishnu, who shall guide his devotees to the end of the present Kali-yuga age. The Lord does this for the emancipation of the troubles of mankind, along with the Goddesses Lakshmi and Padmavati.

Lakshmi resides on the left side of his chest, and Padmavati on the right. It all started when the sage Bhrigu decided to visit the Trimurtis (Lords Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva) during the Kaliyuga age. When he visited Lord Vishnu, the Lord did not give him immediate attention which angered the sage who kicked the Lord on his chest, where Goddess Lakshmi resided. This angered her and she left for meditation in the Tirumala hills.

The Lord followed her to appease her in the human form of Srinivasa. Lords Shiva and Brahma accompanied Him in the form of a cow and a calf. Goddess Lakshmi saw them and handed the cow and calf to the ruling Chola king. However, the cow would only provide milk to Srinivasa daily. The cowherd saw this and tried to injure the cow, but Srinivasa intervened and bore the injury. Angered by this, he cursed the Chola king to be born as a demon.

Upon hearing the king's plea for mercy, Srinivasa said that the king would get redemption when he would marry his daughter Padmavati to Srinivasa. Thus, when the marriage was going to take place, Goddess Lakshmi heard about this and confronted Vishnu. Lore has it that the Lord turned into stone when thus intercepted by both Lakshmi and Padmavati. However, Lords Brahma and Shiva intervened and explained Lord Vishnu's ultimate motive - the Lord's desire to end his people's perpetual troubles during the Kaliyuga by being present on the hills. Hearing this, both the Goddesses also turned into stone deities to be with their Lord.

Architecture of Sri Venkateswara Temple

Built-in accordance with the Dravidian style of architecture, the temple has three entrances, which lead to the sanctum sanctorum. The first entrance is called ‘Mahadwaram.’ A towering gateway (Gopuram), measuring 50 feet high, is placed right in front of the first entrance.

The temple has two circumambulation paths. While the first path houses many pillared halls, flagstaffs and a dedicated area to distribute the offertories, the second path has many sub-shrines, main kitchen, main hundi and many other important edifices. Guest houses and various food counters have been recently constructed for the benefit of the pilgrims. A gold-plated tower inside the main shrine is called ‘Ananda Nilayam’ and is the most important part of the temple.

The inner temple of ‘Ananda Nilayam’ houses the main deity and was constructed around the 12th Century A.D. It was later reconstructed throughout late the 1950s to 1960s. The temple also has a holy pond called Swami Pushkarni, located towards the northern side. Pushkarni, which covers a huge area of 1.5 acres, is one of the most sacred places of the temple. A legend has it that the pond was carried to the hills all the way from Vaikuntham (Lord Vishnu's abode) by Garuda. Saluva King Narasimha Raya constructed a pillared hall at the center of the pond in 1468.