Tirupati, the abode of Lord Vishnu

by Nagalingam KUMARAKURUPARAN

Tirupati is one of the most important pilgrimage centres of India and considered one of the richest religious shrines in the world.

It draws millions of pilgrims annually.The temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu is located atop the hills at Tirumala.Tirupati town itself at the foot hills of Tirumala, has several ancient temples.Tirupati is a pilgrimage centre of great significance and is visited by hundreds of thousands of pilgrims throughout the year. Tirupati is a town in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India.

Golden beaches

Andhra Pradesh is well-known for its golden beaches that stretch as far as your imagination, and green hills rising high on the other side. The capital city of Hyderabad is thriving on modern industry and commerce, and a generous mix of ancient Buddhist heritage, monuments 'temples' geological wonders, mesmerising arts and crafts. Andhra Pradesh will enrich your imagination with all these.

The Eastern Ghats form the majority of hills in Andhra Pradesh. Amidst the thickly-wooded hills lies the temple town of Tirumala and Tirupati at the foothills. The range of hill is said to resemble a snake with Tirumala forming the hood.

While Lord Vishnu or Venkateswara remains the main draw, the beauties of nature and the serene surroundings have made Tirupati today a much visited town. A beautiful Ghat Road leads up across the seven hills to Tirumala, the abode of Lord Vishnu.

The main temple at Tirumala in Tirupati is an excellent example of ancient Indian temple architecture, particularly from South India. Tirupati Venkateswara temple has a magnificent tower and doorway, plated with pure gold, as also the Vimana over the sanctum santorum and the flag post are gold plated, done with meticulous care.

As a religious institution and place of worship, the temple in India has had a hoary past. As a structure that enshrines god or some other object of veneration, adoration and worship, it has had a varied growth in different parts of the subcontinent. This was according to the local needs and subject, of course to the interplay or exchange of thoughts and ideas.

Though fundamentally the basic elements of the temples and the worship in them derived mostly from religious scriptures and texts; in course of centuries they assumed different styles and patterns during their diffusion over wide areas from the cradle centres of the great religions in India.

The temple at Tirumala is no exception to this. The present structure must have been the evolution of the temple through the ages. Tirupati, which finds mention in ancient texts was patronised by the Pallavas, Pandyas, Cholas, the Vijayanagar rulers, the Marathas and Maharajas of Mysore.

Temples of the past were built mainly by kings or their vassals. To rulers, temples were first a symbol of their sovereignty. The grander the temple, the more respect the ruler got from his subjects. The history of Tirupati is traceable using both literature and inscriptions.

The earliest mention in literature is in the Tamil grammar text, Tolkappiam, written sometime in 200 B.C.

The first reference to the deity is found in the Tamil literary work Chilappadikaram in the 8th century A.D. The epic of anklet of Kannaki (venerated as Goddess Pattini) which talks of Lord Vishnu as 'The Lord with lotus eyes'.

The construction of the Temple was begun by Thondaiman, a local chieftain of Kulottunga Chola of Thanjavur (Tanjore) He discovered the idol half buried in an anthill and cleared the forests to establish a temple for the lord in the mid 6th century A.D. This was the beginning of the edifice that exists today. The Pallavas, the Cholas, the Pandyas, Vijaynagar rulers, Marathas' (Descendants of Shivaji) Maharajas of Mysore all in their turn endowed the temple with lavish gifts.

An attempt to pillage the temple by a muslim chief during the Nawab rule was foiled by the British, who then took over the region where the temple lay. The temple revenues went into the coffers of East India company till 1843.

Two Englishmen, Sir Thomas Munroe, Govenor of Madras and Lord Williams were devotees of Lord Venkateswara of Tirupati and both prompted charitable activities to be undertaken at the temple from endowments made by them.

In 1933 the temple administration was brought under a Board of Trustees appointed by the Madras Presidency. After formation of Andhra Pradesh, the State Government constituted the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam and appointed trustees to look after the temple. The moment one enters the temple and passes through the portals and come to the innermost enclosure which houses the sanctum sanctorum, one can see the black coloured idol of Lord Vishnu.

The idol of the Lord itself is divine to behold and pilgrims are blessed with a sense of complete bliss and satisfaction. The moment they glimpse the idol during the Darshan (worship) even for a second. That is the mystic power of the deity of Tirupathi.

How does one undertake to describe the temple of Lord Vishnu or Venkateswara at Tirumala in Tirupati?

Saint Thiyagaraja, one of the great composers of Karnatic music is said to have burst out in agonised song when the screen at the sanctum santorum closed just as he approached it.

"Remove the veil of pride and envy, which so firm within me, keeps me out of the reach of Dharma and Nirvana" he sang, and the screen miraculously opened.

What is so special about Tirupati? Is it the riches of the temple, worth billions of dollars. Certainly not! It is in the Lord Venkateswara shrine that the devotee and the deity come closest to each other. The utter yearning of the devotee to get a glimpse of the Lord, if only for a few seconds, cannot be witnessed in any other temple. Most people go to Tirupati repeatedly. Families make it a point to make at least an annual pilgrimage to the hill.

The Lord at Tirupati forgives easily, is accessible to all and offers salvation on surrender. The thought that reverberates in the mind of every devotee, while leaving the shrine is that the Lord should grant another opportunity to have Darshan.