Thurumalai ( 1stThirupathi)

 Tirupathi is in the middle of seven groups of hills in the Eastern Ghats Range. The eastern parts break up into a number of parallel ranges in the south side of the river Krishna. The central group is called Nallamalai in the Karnool Dt. These meet the eastern range round the group of hills at Tirupathi.

The top of the Thirumalai hill is two thousand feet above the sea level. Lord Venkateswara temple is located on the top of the peak. The group of the seven hills is called Seshachalam hills in the Meruparvatha ( Mountain). It is said the seven hills represent the seven hoods of Adishsha the king of serpants.

Legends say that this has been a sacred place in all the four yugas. It was known as Virushabachala in the Krithayuga, Anjanachala in Trethayuga Sheshachala in the Dwaparayuga and is now Venkatachala in the present Kaliyuga.

A description about the yugas:- 10,80,000 years make an yuga. Four yugas combine as a Chadhuryugam which contains 43,20,000 years. Seventy one chaduryugas make one Manvantram. Fourteen manvantrams are a kalpam. At present this world is on Kaliyuga of the 7th manvantram in swedha varaha kalpam . Kaliyuga is now 7579 years old.

Legendary conception of the hills is that they represent the body of Adisesha. Lord Venkateswara is the 'swayamb-vyakta' (self incarnation) at Tirupathi. According to the Visisht-advaita system of philosophy saint Sri Ramanuja has said that this place has the supreme powers of the Lord. Hence it is called Boologa Vaikundam.Also the saint proclaimed to his disciples that this god is powerful and having his blessings is important to mankind.
Centuries ago there would appear to have been some dispute about the identity of the Lord. Only after saint Sri Ramanunja came to the temple that the dispute was settled. He added the Shankam and Chakkaram to the Lord's idol when the dispute arose. He established the worship of Lord Srinivasa here.
Saint Ramanunja proposed that the shanka and chakkaram which are the emblems of lord Vishnu should be placed before the deity during the night after his prayer. There is a story that the lord himself might have chosen the sangam and chakkaram. Also it is said that Sri Ramanunja being the  incarnation of Adishesha took the form of a cobra and went into the sanctum through an opening intended for draining abhisheka theertha and prayed to the lord. The Lord was moved by the saint's prayer and happily took the two emblems that the saint gave. The path that Ramanuja took as a cobra was closed and now the Abishega threertham is collected in a big container. There is no direct outlet for gods abishega teertham from the sanctum.

The Image of Lord is in the standing posture. The left hand extends to his left thigh.The meaning of this is that steady devotion to the lord's feet will achieve any desire.The right hand showing the feet is called varadha-hasta. The meaning is if one surrenders at his feet the lord will take-over all his burdens.

This temple is unlike other vaishnavaite ones. One does not find any idols for Alwars. In this temple there are two important traditions. One is anointing the lord with camphor and the other is devotees tonsuring their head.
The custom of anointing the body of the god with camphor has its origin from the fact that : Once a Brahmin devotee took a vow to dig a tank near the temple. Since he was a very poor man, he himself did the work and also pressed into service his wife who was pregnant. When the lady began to feel labour pain for delivery of the baby the god himself in the disguise of a brahmin youth, began to share with her the task of carrying the excavated earth. The old man noticed this and he became jealous, at some other man sharing the good fortune of service to the lord and hit him with his crow-bar.
Then later when he went into the temple to pray to god he found to his surprise blood pouring out at the exact spot from the body of the idol where the blow fell on the body of the youth. He then realized that the Lord himself had graced him and shared his labour .The man felt very sad and immediately began to dress the wound of God with camphor. From that time the practice of anointing the body of the deity with camphor has come into vogue. The tank that the Brahmin dug is called "Swami- Pushkarani"

Adhi Sankara in the course of his tours is said to have installed a 'Dhanakarshana Yantra' in the sanctum close to the Lord. Because of this the income of the temple from the offerings of the devotees is going up by leaps and bounds. Lord Venkateswara is a ' Prathiksha Moorthy' . Sincerely if one prays in utter surrender to him he never fails in his life. It is said that many miraculous incidents have happened in this place.

The popular legend: In Tredhayuga Sri Vishnu incarnated as Rama. and went to forest for fourteen years in deference to the wishes of his parents. When he was in Chitrakoot Ravana played a trick and sent his uncle mareecha as a golden fawn to the hermitage where Rama was living with Sita.. Sita wanted the fawn and Rama chased the deer to catch it . Sita heared a fake voice of Rama in distress and she sent Lakshmana to investigate. During that period Ravana came as a hermit to kidnap Sita. He came to the hut and begged for food. Sita with her divine power understood that the hermit was a fake and that Ravana had come to kidnap her. She disappeared deep into the earth and a Maya Sita ( likeness of Sita ) came out and Ravana kidnapped her. ( Vishnu took Rama avathar for Ravana vadham)

She spent long months in Ashoka forest in Lanka. In the Rama - Ravana war Ravana was defeated and Rama rescue Sita. At that time she asked Rama that shehad spent long years in the forest in Lanka impersonating Sita and hence Rama should marry her. Rama promised her to marry her in kaliyuga. and she went into agni (fire)
As Rama promised Vishnu incarnated as Srinivasa in the present Kaliyuga and was born in a poor family. The Maya Sita (the one who was in ashoka forest in Lanka ) was born as the daughter of king Akash Raju.
One day Srinivasa's mother was thinking about her poverty and worrying over her son's marriage. Srinivasa told his mother about his love for Padmavathi the king Agash Raju's daughter. His mother was happy but at the same time she felt sad and explained to him about their poverty and the impossibility of his marrying a king's daughter. Srinivasa also was sad. At that time sage Naradha came and told Srinivasa that he would arrange for a loan from Kubera to pay for the marriage. Srinivasa agreed and Kubera gave a loan for interest. Srinivasa - Padmavathi marriage was performed in a very grand manner.
Lakshmi the consort of Vishnu came to know about this and rushed to the marriage hall. Srinivasa saw Lakshmi. He told her about his love for Padmavathy and requested her to repay the loan he had taken from Kubera. Lakshmi refused. However Narayana requested that she should give lot of wealth to his devotees so that they would give it as offering in his temple with which he could pay the interest to Kubera till the end of Kali yuga. Lakshmi agreed and took abode in Thiruchanoor as Devi Alarmelumanga. in Thiruchanoor which is two miles from Tirupathi. A visit to Tirupathi is not complete with out a visit to Alamelumanga temple in Thiruchanoor. Sri Padmavathi temple is also near Mangapuram in the foothills.

There are a number of Threerthas on the hills and also in the foot-hills. These are deemed sacred. Swami-Pushkarani is near the temple on the hill. Akasha Ganga is four miles from the hill. This is the water that is taken daily for pooja and religious use. Kabila Threertham is a mile and half from Thirupathi.

The Temple of Lord Venkateswara is the most famous one in India. This is a temple to which Saivites and Vaishnavites and people belonging to all other sub-sects go for their prayer. 

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