Tirupati:

World's richest temple

Tirupati is a temple town in Chittoor District in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is at the foot hills of Tirumalai.

The town owes its existence to the sacred temple on the Tirumala Hills. Tirumala is the abode of Lord Venkateshwara, one of the Avatars of Lord Vishnu, atop Seshachala hills often called as Yaelu Malai or Yaedu Kondalu (seven hills).

The temple of Lord Venkateshwara was built by Tamil Kings representing the rich Tamil culture and it is the richest Hindu temple and the most visited religious center in the world followed by the Vatican.

The word Thirupati means the Lord of Lakshmi and the word Tirumalai means Mountain of highness in Tamil.Tirumalai is called as Tirumala in Telugu. Tirumagal means Lakshmi, Pathi means husband or king, and Malai means hill.

Within Vaishnava tradition the temple is considered as one of the 108 most sacred temples throughout India, collectively known as 'Tirupathis'. Since Tirumalai and Tirupathi have been passed from the Tamil-majority Madras State to the majority-Telugu Andhra State,Tirumalai is now officially known as Tirumala.

The Tirumala Hill is 3200 feat above sea level, and is about 10.33 square miles in area. It comprises seven peaks, representing the seven hoods of Adisesha, thus earning the name, Seshachalam. The seven peaks are called Seshadri, Five persons are allowed for Shrivari Darshan.

Laddus (Sweets) will be given after darshan. Laddu Padi tickets are sold at Vijaya Bank. Neeladri, Garudadri, Anjanadri, Vrishabhadri, Narayanadri and Venkatadri. The sacred temple of Sri Venkateshwara is on the seventh peak, Venkatadri (Venkata Hill), and lies on the southern banks of Sri Swami Pushkarini.

There are several legends associated with the manifestation of the Lord in Tirumala. The name Tirupati, meaning the 'the Lord of Lakshmi should have been appropriately applied to the village on the Venkata Hill, the abode of the Lord. However, it has been popularly assigned to the Municipal town at the foot of the Hill, while the village around the Hill near His temple is called Tirumala (the Sacred Hill).

Lord Venkateshwara at Tirumala is regarded as the world's richest temple with an estimated annual income of over 300 crores. The hill temple, which received a stream of royal benefactions, has a fabulous collection of very rare and precious ornaments whose antique value is beyond anybody's guess.

It also has crores of rupees worth assets in the form of land and buildings spread across the country. The main source of income is derived from the hundi which netted an all time record of Rs.116 crores in 1997-98 by cash offerings.

During the period the hundi also received 450 Kg of gold, 3,200 Kg of silver articles, diamonds weighing 2.430 Kg besides more than two Kg of pearls, loose stones, corals and other precious offerings.

There is no dearth of funds for the sacred temple as philanthropists from all over the country and abroad queue up to make fabulous donations in fulfillment of their vows.

Lord Venkateshwara who according to the mythologies is "self-manifested" (svayambhu) is regarded as the most revered Hindu God today.

On any given day the main deity is adorned with not less than a 100 Kg of gold, diamond and pearl ornaments. Of all the ornaments, which adorn the deity, Makara Kanti, Lakshmi haram, Shaligrama haram, Suryakatari (golden sword believed to have been presented to the Lord by the Sun God) are of immense antique value their history being rooted in legends.

Aside the recently made diamond crown whose present value is put around Rs.30 Crores the other ornaments such as Nagabharanams, Sankhu-Chakram, Kati Hastham and Abhaya Hastham are also made of gold and diamonds. The Golden Dhoti" (peethambaram) made of pure gold laces is the heaviest of all his "costumes", weighing about 40 Kg. This particular vasthram (cloth) adorns the main deity during Brahmothsavam and on other main festive occasions.

It is mind boggling to learn that more than 150 Kg of pure gold is used to provide a gold metal cover to the exquisite Ananda Nilaya Vimanam, the granite canopy over the sanctum sanctorum.

In addition to this the temple management is contemplating to provide gold-coated copper sheets to all the pillars and doors including the outer prakaram of the sanctum sanctorum to add to the aesthetic beauty of the shrine and thus transform it into a "golden temple" complex.

An interesting feature of the temple is inspiring its rich collection of ornaments; donations are still pouring in from devotees in the form of fabulous offerings. For instance, during 1998 a devotee from Sri Lanka who wished to remain anonymous for obvious reasons had donated three diamond-studded golden crowns for the processional deities - the Lord and his two consorts.

Another devotee a business tycoon from Pune offered a diamond parrot, a pair of Nagabharanams besides other princely offerings to the temple. Apart from these another devotee has come forward to donate a Vajra Kireetam to the goddess Padmavati of Tiruchanoor whose estimated cost is around Rs. one crore.

To add further to the grandeur of the temple , the management has already initiated the task of remaking various vahanams (vehicles) used for the procession of the Lord.

Beside the surya prabha vahanam remade last year, the TTD has recently refabricated the gold-coated sarvabhoopala vahanam at a cost of Rs.23 lakhs using four Kg of gold.

The temple annual income which was Rs. 37 lakhs in 1945-46 rose to 9 crore in 1970-71 to Rs. 23 crore by 80-81 and then to Rs. 108 cr. (90-91) and touched all time high of Rs. 300 crore during 1997-98 By the end of the millennium TTD is expecting its income to touch the Rs.350 crore mark.

Courtesy - Google