The Hindu Business Line : Burgeoning image of the ‘Abode of Bliss’ and the Tirumala ‘Festival of Splendour’

The shrine of Sri Venkateswara is one of the foremost sacred Srivaishnavaite temples of South India, the other three premier temples being Srirangam, Kancheepuram and Melkote. The traditions concerning the temple of Lord Venkateswara are found in twelve Puranas and Upapuranas. The earliest reference to the Temple of Lord Venkateswara could be found in the ancient Tamil treatise, “Tolkappiam”, a work of the 2nd century BC. The glory of ‘Venkatachalam’ dates back to Sangam period. Sangam literature mentions Tirupati as ‘Tiruvengadam’ which in the subsequent years became, ‘Tiruvenkatadri’. Out of the 12 Alwars—Srivaishnavaite Savants—ten have sung glorifying the Lord of Tirumala. Brahmanda Puranam says “There is no place parallel to Venkatachala; and there is no God equal to Venkateswara either in the past or in future”.

Mythology of Tirumala temple: ‘Venkatachala Mahatmyam’ says that in the 28th Yuga before the present Kaliyuga, Sri Venkateswara as a manifestation of the Lord Vishnu had appeared before Brahma, the Creator and other Gods, Rishis, Kings and devotees on a Monday with Sravana Nakshatram and Sukla Paksha Dwadasi of Kanya maasa as per solar calendar. The moon was housed at that auspicious moment in the Sravanam Nakshatram and hence it is considered the ‘Avatara Nakshatram’ of the Lord Venkateswara.

Great Acharyas, right from Nathamunigal had been closely associated with the worship in the Tirumala temple as per ‘Vaikhanasa Agama’ principles. The great-grandson of Nathamunigal—Tirumala Nambi devoted himself to the service of the Lord Srinivasa and later on his nephew who was none other than Sri Ramanuja, the great reformer and preceptor undertook the task of establishing the daily rituals and modes of worship which is still being followed in letter and in spirit in the hill temple.

New scheme: The present TTD Board of Trustees headed by D.K. Adikesavulu, a Bangalore-based industrialist has at its very first meeting decided to take up an ambitious programme of providing ‘gold plating’ to all the four walls around the ‘Garbha Griha’—the sanctum sanctorum so as to give it a touch of ‘all gold’. Sky is the limit for the money to be spent on the project, said Adikesavulu and the TTD’s Executive Officer, K.V.Ramanachary,IAS. . Over and above the donations received from the philanthropists, the TTD would utilize any amount of gold from its reserves required to accomplish the divine task, they said. Barely a fortnight after the TTD Board announced its decision, the Karnataka Chief Minister, B.S.Yedyurappa announced a donation of 21 kgs of gold to the holy project on behalf of the ‘Karnataka Bhaktha Jana Mandali’. Of this 10 kgs were already received while the rest is in the pipeline.

TTD’s social façade: TTD’s spiritual face is too well known. But what is least known is its fast emerging social façade—thanks to its society-centric programmes , especially the ‘Kalyanamasthu’—statewide free mass marriage programme and ‘Pranadanam Scheme’ under which it provides free medicare including major surgeries in its superspecialities hospital—SVIMS, Tirupati to those falling under the BPL category. This is due to the realization on the part of the TTD management that it was time that it gives a social angle also to its activities so that they become a good spiritual cum social blend in tune with the changing times.

Brahmothsavam: The Brahmothsavam of the Lord is a festival of splendour coupled with oriental pomp and pageantry that it attracts thousands of diverse communities to converge at the hills. In the Venkatachala Mahatmyam, one of the earliest treatises on Tirumala, there are definite references to indicate that the festival was celebratred with utmost gradeur and reverence by none other than the creator, ’Brahma’ which is why the fete is called the ’Brahmothsavam’.

Right from the days of Ramanuja and till date, the successive administrators of the temple have been conducting the 10-day Brahmothsavam with great devotion and pomp. As the festival attracts a huge congragation of pilgrims from both the southern and the northern states, the TTD besides sprucing up the entire temple and its environs to match the spectacular event, also makes elaborate arrangements to meet the rush. Besides arches and festoons all over, the hill station situated about 3200 ft above the MSL would be replete with huge serial-lamp cut-outs depicting various events in the puranas to add to the devotional fervour.

A. Devarajan

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