The Venkateswara Swami Temple—also known as Tirumala Temple, Tirupati Temple and Tirupati Balaji Temple—is a Hindu temple located in the hills of Tirumala, within Tirupati Urban Mandal, Tirupati district, Andhra Pradesh, India. The temple is dedicated to Venkateswara, a form of Vishnu, who is believed to have appeared on earth to save mankind from trials and troubles of Kali Yuga. Hence the site is also called Kaliyuga Vaikuntha and the deity is known as Kaliyuga Prathyaksha Daivam. Venkateswara is additionally known as Balaji, Govinda, and Srinivasa. The temple is administered by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), an autonomous body under the control of the Government of Andhra Pradesh. The head of TTD is appointed by Andhra Pradesh Government.
Tirumala Hills, which are part of Seshachalam Hills range, rise to approximately 980 metres (3,220 ft) above sea level and comprise seven peaks. Per local tradition, the seven peaks represent the seven heads of Adisesha. The temple lies on the seventh peak—Venkatadri, on the southern banks of Sri Swami Pushkarini, a holy water tank. Hence the temple is also referred to as "Temple of Seven Hills". Tirumala town covers an area of about 10.33 sq mi (26.75 km2).
The Venkateswara temple at Tirumala is traditionally attributed to the Tondaiman rulers, with later expansions and reforms carried out under the Cholas, Pandyas and Vijayanagar dynasties. The temple, built in Dravidian architecture style, is believed to be developed over a period of time starting from 300 CE. The Garbhagriha (sanctum sanctorum) known as Ananda Nilayam, houses the presiding deity Venkateswara, who stands facing east. The temple follows Vaikhanasa Agama tradition of worship. The temple is one of the eight Vishnu Swayambhu (self-manifested) Kshetras and is one of the 108 Divya Desam temples mentioned in the Naalayira Divya Prabandham. The temple premises include two modern queue complexes for managing pilgrim crowds, the Tarigonda Vengamamba Annaprasadam Complex that provides free meals, dedicated facilities for hair tonsure and multiple lodging sites for pilgrims. The temple is one of the richest Hindu temples in the world in terms of donations received and wealth.
There are several legends associated with the manifestation of the deity in Tirumala. According to one legend, the temple has a murti of Venkateswara, is “Nitya-daiva-kalpa” — the eternal deity which shall remain on Venkatachala (Tirumala) until the entire duration of the present Kalpa.
The temple is one of the world's most visited religious sites, attracts around 24 million devotees annually. The average daily pilgrim footfall is above 60,000 devotees, and the number crosses one lakh devotees during the annual Brahmotsavams, Vaikunta Ekadasi, and other festival and holiday seasons.
Temple legend
The Tirumala hills, also known as Sheshachalam, are traditionally believed to represent the body of the cosmic serpent Ananta, also called Shesha, with their seven peaks symbolizing the serpent's seven heads upon which Vishnu is said to rest.
Three interconnected legends from the Puranas are traditionally cited to explain the presence of Venkateswara at this site.
According to Puranic tradition, Tirumala became Vishnu's earthly home at the onset of the Kali Age. Wishing to remain close to his worshippers during this era, Vishnu consulted the sage Narada about a suitable location. Narada directed him to the banks of the Svarnamukhi River in southern India. The cosmic serpent Shesha transformed into the surrounding hills, known as Sheshachalam. Vishnu descended to the summit in the form of Venkateswara, and the site has since been renowned as Tirupati.
The Varaha Purana and Skanda Purana connect the site with Vishnu's boar incarnation, Varaha. In this account, Varaha plunged into the primordial ocean to recover the Earth, personified as the goddess Prithivi, who had sunk beneath the waters. After lifting her to safety, Varaha set her down upon the hills of Shesha and remained there with her, and the site took the name Varaha Kshetra. His fearsome boar form troubled Brahma, who petitioned him to assume a gentler appearance, and Varaha then manifested as Venkateswara. A related tradition holds that after the rescue, Garuda, Vishnu's eagle-mount, was sent to Vaikuntha to fetch a sacred hill that became holy Tirumala, and on its summit established the tank known as Varaha Pushkarini, the Lotus Pool.
The Vaishnava mahatmyas of the Puranas trace the presence of Venkateswara at Sheshachalam to a conflict involving the sage Bhrigu. Tasked with identifying which of the great gods was most deserving of a yajna sacrifice, Bhrigu visited each in turn. He found Brahma absorbed with the goddess Sarasvati and Shiva occupied with Parvati. At Vaikuntha, he found Vishnu asleep and struck him on the chest with his foot. Vishnu, rather than taking offense, attended to the sage's foot in concern. Lakshmi, however, was deeply offended. Lakshmi considered the chest her own place, and having it struck was an indignity she could not accept. She departed Vaikuntha in anger. Vishnu followed, wandering across the subcontinent through the Himalayan foothills, along the Ganga, and across the Vindhya hills and southern plains. On reaching Sheshachalam, the hills formed by his cosmic serpent Shesha, he found the place to be like Vaikuntha itself and settled there. In the Kali Age, Lakshmi was reborn as Padmavati, a child discovered when a field was plowed, and she became united with Vishnu in his form as Venkateswara.
History of the temple
Mention in Cilappatikaram
The temple is mentioned in Cilappatikaram, one of the Five Great Epics of Tamil literature. In the narrative, when Kovalan meets a Brahmin, who asks him where he has come from and why he has arrived there, to which the Brahmin replies, "I came to satisfy my heart's desire, to see with my own eyes the glory of Vishnu, whom many worship with prayer as He reposes with Lakshmi in His chest, on the couch of the thousand hooded Serpent, in the temple in island jutting out on the widening waves of the Kaveri, even as the blue clouds repose supine on the slopes of the lofty golden mountain (Meru)." This line mentions Srirangam and next he mentions Tirumala as follows, "I also came to see the beauty of the red-eyed Lord, holding in His beautiful lotus-hands the discus which is death to His enemies, and also the milk white conch (to see Him) wearing a garland of tender flowers on His chest, and draped in golden flowers and dwelling on the topmost crest of the tall and lofty hill named Venkatam with innumerable waterfalls, standing like a cloud in its natural hue, adorned with a rainbow and attired with lightning, in the midst of a place both sides of which are illumined by the spreading rays of the sun and the moon."
Medieval history
The first recorded endowment was made by Pallava queen Samavai in the year 966 CE. She donated many jewels and two parcels of land (one 10 acres and other 13 acres) and ordered use of the revenues generated from that land for the celebration of major festivals in the temple. The Pallava dynasty (9th century), the Chola dynasty (10th century), Reddi Kingdom (12th and 13th centuries) and Vijayanagara pradhans (14th and 15th centuries) were committed devotees of Venkateswara. The temple gained most of its current wealth and size under the Vijayanagara Empire, present-day Karnataka state, with the donation of diamonds and gold. In the 16th century, Vijayanagara Emperor Krishnadevaraya was a frequent donor and visitor to the temple. His donations of gold and jewels enabled the Ananda Nilayam (inner shrine) roofing to be gilded. On 2 January 1517, Krishnadevaraya installed his own statue in the temple.
After the decline of Vijayanagara Empire, rulers from states such as the Kingdom of Mysore and the Gadwal Samsthanam worshipped as pilgrims and donated ornaments and valuables to the temple. Maratha general Raghoji I Bhonsle set up a permanent administration for the conduct of worship in the temple. He donated valuable jewels to the Lord which are still preserved in a box named after him. Between 1320 CE and 1369 CE, idols of Ranganathaswamy Temple, Srirangam were brought to this temple for safe keeping.
Ramanujacharya's visits
In the 11th and 12th centuries, Ramanujacharya visited Tirupati three times. During his first visit, he spent a year with his uncle, Tirumalai Nambi, learning the esoteric meaning of the Ramayana. His second visit was to settle a dispute that had arisen between the Saivites and Vaishnavites regarding the nature of the image set up in the Tirumala temple. During the last visit, at the advanced old age of 102 years, the Acharya installed the image of Govindaraja and laid the foundations of the present-day town of Tirupati. Ramanuja streamlined the rituals at the Tirumala temple according to Vaikhanasa Agama tradition and introduced the recitation of Naalayira Divya Prabandham. He also set up Tirupati Jeeyar Mutt in 1119 AD in consultation with Tirumalai Ananthalwan to institutionalise service to the deity and supervise the temple rituals. To this day, the Jeeyars ensure that the rituals ordained by Ramanuja are observed.
Modern history
After the fall of Vijayanagara Empire, the temple came under the control of Golconda in July 1656. It was subsequently administered for a brief period by the French and later by Nawab of Carnatic until 1801 CE. With the arrival of the British in the early 19th century, the management of the temple passed to the East India Company, which accorded special status to the temple and refrained from interfering in its activities. In 1817, the Madras government enacted Regulation VII, transferring oversight of the temple to the Board of Revenue through the Collector of North Arcot District. In 1821, Bruce, the East India company commissioner for the Chittoor district, formulated rules for the management of Temple, later known as Bruce's Code.
The 7th Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Osman Ali Khan made annual donations of ₹8,000 to the temple.
In 1843, the East India Company transferred the administration of the temple, along with other Temples in Tirupati, to the Mahants of Hathiramji Muth, who acted as Vicaranakartas. The temple remained under the Mahants' control for six generations until 1933, when Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) was established under the TTD Act of 1933. The Act of 1933 was later superseded by the Madras Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment Act of 1951. In 1966, the temple was placed under the direct control of the Andhra Pradesh State Endowments Department, through the Andhra Pradesh Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowments Act. This arrangement was reversed in 1979 with the enactment of the new Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams Act, which vested temple administration in a committee consisting of an Executive Officer, a Chairman and two other members nominated by the Government of Andhra Pradesh. The temple continues to be administered by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams which is under the control of Andhra Pradesh Government. The head of TTD is appointed by Andhra Pradesh Government, and the revenue from the shrine is utilized by Andhra Pradesh government.
The temple bears as many as 640 inscriptions in Kannada, Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu languages. There is a unique collection of about 3000 copper plates on which the Telugu Sankirtanas of Tallapaka Annamacharya and his descendants are inscribed. This collection forms a valuable source of material for a historical linguist in Telugu apart from its importance to musicologists.
Temple administration
Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) is the trust board which oversees and manages the operations of Tirumala Venkateswara Temple. It is operated by a board of trustees that has increased in size from five (1951) to eighteen (2015) through the adoption of Acts. The daily operation and management of TTD is the responsibility of an executive officer, who is appointed by the Government of Andhra Pradesh.
Based on analysis of data during Jan 2022 – Feb 2024, maximum average daily visitors to Tirumala Venkateswara temple is about 87,000. The annual budget, estimated at ₹25301 million for the financial year 2015–16, runs charitable trusts whose funds are derived from the budget and donations from the devotees. The annual income is estimated at ₹10000 million in 2008. Most of its income is derived from the donations in SriVari Hundi. Devotees donate to the TTD, which runs into millions of rupees. TTD, the organisation running the welfare of the temple, runs various charitable trusts, whose funds are derived from the budget and donations from the devotees.
Architecture
Dvarams and Prakarams
There are three dvarams (entrances) which lead to the garbhagriha from outside.
Mahadvaram
The Maha Dwaram is the main entrance to the temple and is also known as 'Padikavali', 'Simhadvaram,' or 'Outer Gopuram'. It provides access from outside the temple to the Sampangi Pradakshinam, and is separated from it by an outer compound wall (Maha Prakaram). The tower stands at the height of 50 ft (15 m). On either side of the entrance stand two panchaloha statues of Sankanidhi and Padmanidhi, who are traditionally regarded as the guardians of the Navanidhi, the nine treasures of Venkateswara.
Venḍi Vākili
Venḍi Vākili, which means "silver entrance" in Telugu, is the second entrance of the temple. It leads to the Vimana Pradakshinam and is also known as 'Nadimipadikavali'. The name of this entrance comes from the silver plating on the doors. An inner compound wall separates the Sampangi Pradakshinam and Vimana Pradakshinam. A three storied gopuram was built over this entrance with seven kalisams during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.
Baṁgāru Vākili
The Baṁgāru Vākili, or 'Golden Entrance,' is accessible from the Tirumamani Mandapam, and leads to the inner sanctum sanctorum. There are two tall copper images of the dwarapalakas, Jaya and Vijaya on either side of the door. The door is covered with gilt plates depicting the avatars of Vishnu. The doorway is directly in line with the Padi Kavali and the Vendi Vakili. It admits pilgrims to the Snapana Mandapam. Suprabhatam is sung in front of this door.
Pradakshinas
The temple is surrounded by 3 concentric compound walls (or prakaram). Pradakshinas are the spaces enclosed between them which are used for circumambulation rituals.
Sampangi Pradakshina
The Sampangi Pradakshina is the primary circumambulation walkway within the temple complex. It is named after Magnolia champaca flowers, called Sampangi in Telugu, which were grown in the area. The mandapas situated in the Pradakshina are: