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Tirumala Venkateswara Temple: A Holy Darshan

Tirupati is a town located in Chittor district of Andhra Pradesh. It is most famous for its Sri Venkateshwara temple which is dedicated to Lord Vishnu. The temple is located on top of Tirumala hills while the town is at the bottom. Tiru means 'holy or 'sacred' and mala means 'hills' or ' mountains', thus the name literally translates to 'holy hill'. The Tirumala hill has seven peaks which are supposed to represent the seven hoods of Adishesha, the serpent under whose hood Lord Vishnu resides. This is one of the most visited holy places in the world. So prepare yourself and let us travel to pay our respects to this holy city.

How to Reach

How to Reach

Tirupati is around 551 km from Hyderabad, 135 km from Chennai and 248 km from Bangalore. There are long distance flights from all major cities of India. One can also travel by train to here and get off at the Tirupati Main. The railway is well connected with Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. There are also buses that one can get on to for reaching here.

Photo Courtesy: Ashok Prabhakaran

Tirumala Venkateswara Temple

Tirumala Venkateswara Temple

The Tirumala Venkateswara Temple is also known as the 'Temple of Seven Hills' and is dedicated to the Lord Venkateswara who is an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. It stands on the southern banks of Sri Swami Pushkarini, a holy water tank. This is the 2nd richest pilgrimage centre only after Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Thiruvananthpuram, Kerala. Around 50,000 to 1,00,000 pilgrims visit this temple every day.Here are the places where one can stay here.

Photo Courtesy: Adityamadhav83

Entry Tickets
 

Entry Tickets

With large number of crowds coming here everyday the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams have an elaborate arrangement of darshan tickets. Pilgrims wanting to explore the temple can take tickets for the Divya Darshan where they are can walk around and see the entire temple. For lactating mothers there is the Supatham. The poor can make use of the Sarva Darshan which is free and for those who are in a hurry they can utilize the Sheegra Darshan. One can book the tickets online through the temples e-booking counter.

Photo Courtesy: Satish Krishnamurthy

Temple Deities

Temple Deities

The temple is dedicated to Lord Venkateswara. There are dieties of him here to which the pilgrims offer their prayers. The Moolavirat is the main deity and is considered to be the main source of energy for the temple. Just beside it is the Kautuka Beram which is a tiny silver diety of the god. Then there is the Snapana Beram which represents the Gods anger. All the idols are cleansed daily in holy water, milk, curd and ghee and then sandalwood paste is smeared onto the idol.

Photo Courtesy: Vimalkalyan

Temple Activities

Temple Activities

A visit to any temple is incomplete without the prasadam and so is the same here. The Tirupati Laddu is the prasadam offered to its devotees and it is very famous. Another famous activity here is that of head tonsuring. Devotees believe that sacrificing their hair symbolises humility and thus would receive the God's blessing. Hundis are kept in various parts of the temple where devotees can donate money to the temple. Thulabharam is again an old form of ritual in which a man is weighed on one side of the scale and on the other side of the scale items like jaggery, banana, rice and more are weighed. Devotees balance the weight with the items and then the item of his/her equivalent weight is offered to God.

Photo Courtesy: Jamdirt631

The Seven Hills

The Seven Hills

The Seven Hills also called the Saptagiri is the soul of Tirupati. Each hill has its own importance. The first hill, Vrushabhadri, is dedicated to Nandi. Anjandari, is dedicated to Lord Hanuman. Neeladri to Neela Devi, Garudadri to Garuda, Lord Vishnu's vahana. Seshadri to Sesha, dasa to Lord Vishnu, Narayandri to Lord Narayana and finally Venkatadri to Lord Venkateswara.

Photo Courtesy: Satyam555

Rules

Rules

There are a few rules and regulations one must follow while in Tirupati. They are as follows:

Wear appropriate clothing.
No consuming of alcohol.
Avoid eating meat, fish, egg or any non-vegetarian food.
Do not wear flowers as all flowers are for the Lord only.
Spitting or littering or creating any kind of nuisance is prohibhited.
Not to carry mobile phone/camera/pager/video camera, while going for darshan as they are banned inside the temple (inner) sanctum.
Ladies will need to wear traditional Indian sarees, or failing that, should bring a dupatta (long scarf) to wear across the neck.

Photo Courtesy: Claude Renault

 

Nearby Temples

Nearby Temples

There are many temples nearby which one can visit. Some of them are- Srikalahasti temple, Srinivasa Mangapuram, Sri Govinda Raja Swami Temple, Sri Kapileswara Temple and more.

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