Introduction
The temple of lord Venkateshwara/Balaji/Timmappa, is situated on the seventh peak called ‘Venkatadri’ in Tirumala hill town, near Tirupati in the Chitoor district of Indian state Andhra Pradesh.
Main deity, the Balaji / Venkateshwar
The stone idol of the lord, placed in the main shrine, is 8 feet tall from the toe to the crown, but its origin is not known. Its references are said to be available in Rigaveda and in other oldest possible records like the Sangam Tamil literature, book 11 of ‘Silpadikaram’ where he is mentioned as Tirubengadam. The idol is also known as MOOL VIRAAT, MOOLAVAR or DHRUB BERAAM.
There are many stories move around the idol related to its origin.
1.It is said that the idol was hidden under a huge ant hillock. One day a farmer heard a voice coming from the heaven and asking him to feed the ants. This voice was also heard by the king Thondaman or Thondaiman, ruler of Thondaimandalam in the ancient times in Tamilnadu, presently known as Kanchipuram and its surroundings. Following the voice, he started giving lot of milk to the ants. This made the hill melt. As the hill melted, the hidden idol of the lord became visible.
2. As per other version of the story, the Lord Vishnu felt that he can be nearer to his devotees in the form of an idol and he transformed himself into the idol of Lord Venkateshwara.
3. While searching his wife Laksmi, who had left home out of anger, he met Varah Swamy and wanted some place to live there. Varah Swamy agreed to give him some place to stay, but on payment. The Lord was penniless at that time. He assured him that his devotees will worship and make offers to him first before they come to his temple, this way his debt will be compensated.
4. He took loan from lord Kubera during his marriage with Padmavati. He requested Goddess Laksmi , his wife , to makehis devotees so rich that they can make offers in his hundi without any difficulty so that he can make himself free from the debt of Lord Kubera. Goddess Laksmi agreed to it.
5. Once the lord was hit by a shepherd on his head. He lost a small part of his scalp and became bald headed. Gandharva princes, Neela Devi marked this. She had magical powers. She cut a part of her hair and implanted it on the bald portion of the lord Venkateshwara ‘s head. The lord felt obliged to her and requested to accept the hairs rendered by his devotees in return of what she has done for him.Right from that time Neela Devi accepts the hairs, rendered by his devotees.
Temples history
The first temple of the lord was believed to be built by theking Thondaman with a ‘prakar’ for regular prayers and a godown to store grains and other valuables on one of thepeaks of Venkatadri hill on the southern bank of Sri Swami Pushkarni. He also made approach road to reach to his temple. Later Chola dynasty developed the temple at a large scale. It initiated competition among the kings. The temple attained maximum of its riches in size and diamond and gold during the regime of Vijaynagara emperors.The coronation ceremonies of the emperors were celebrated here also.Krishnadevaraya was a regular visitor of the temple. It was he who got the viman roofing gilded. He had installed a statue of himself and his consort in the portals at the temple.
The Maratha general Ragho ji Bhonsle set up a regular administration for the general management and to conduct worship in the temple. In the later periods the rulers of Mysore and Gadwal played important role.
During British time the administration of the Sri Venkateshwara temple and some other shrines were regularized in a better way and TTD (Tirumala Tirupati deva Darshanam) was established under the TTD Act 1932. TTD is operated by a board of trustees.TTD runs various welfare activities. An executive officer appointed by the Andhra Government is responsible to take care of daily management and operations.
Queue system at Vaikuntam Queue Complex(VQC)
The entrance for darshan is through the Vaikuntam Queue Complex. The complex is a series of inter-connected halls that leads to the main temple. An efficient queue system ensures that pilgrims move in an orderly fashion through the Queue Complex, towards the main temple.
To get a Darshana (view of main deity) by pilgrims are needed to be in any one queue system, out of four different types. As more than fifty thousand pilgrims visit the Sri Venkateswara Temple every day, TTD has organized efficient systems to ensure the smooth movement of pilgrims.
The halls in the Queue Complex are clean, spacious and airy.TTD provides a wide range of facilities in the Queue Complex:
Four different queue systems
1. Divya Darshana – It is for for pedestrian Devotees, who step up the hill to reach the Tirumala through Gali Gopuram or Srivari Mettu by foot. As they get more priority & in this line one can finish there Darshana in about 1 to 2 hours only. Bio-metric counters are established on these foot paths, to facilitate free darshan, free accommodation (P.A.C) and free food facilities at Tirumala.
2. Dharma Darshan/ Sarva Darshanam - It is a free darshan. It takes 8 hours to some times whole day to get Darshana as number of devotees will be more in this queue as well as it is free and many believes this is the way, where god will be pleased more & it for them, who have more time to spend in temple campus.
The timings for Sarvadarsanam are different on different days of the week. For Timing detail refer this link : http://www.tirumala.org/maintemple_programme.htm
On normal days, about 18 hours are allotted for Sarvadarsanam and on peak days, it is open for 20 hours.
3. Sudarshanam –it is a paid queue system, charging Rs. 50 per visitor. Devotees in this line can finish there darshan in about 3-4 hours, who have less time to spend in queue. For this devotees are needed to take Sudarsanam token at a).Second Choultry (behind the Railway Station), b).Bhudevi Complex, c). Alipiri Tollgate, d).Sreenivasam in Tirupati, e).Srivari Sannidhi, Tirupati, f ). RTC Bus stand in Tirupati, g).TTD Information centre ,Renigunta (opposite to the Renigunta Railway Station).
The time of darshan is indicated on the tokens.Pilgrims can enter the Vaikuntam Queue Complex at Tirumala at the time indicated on the tokens. As this system saves on waiting time, it provides pilgrims with enough time to visit temples in the vicinity like Sri Govindarajaswami Temple and Kapila Teertham at Tirupati, Sri Padmavathi Ammavari Temple at Tiruchanur and Sri Kalyana Venkateswara Swami Temple at Srinivasa Mangapuram.To help TTD keep a track of the number of pilgrims and ensure their smooth flow, one token is issued per head. Collective tokens for groups are not issued.Sudarshan tokens to a tune of 5000 per day, Tuesday and Wednesday 2000 per day will be issued from 05:00am
4. Shighra Darshan/urgent Darshana/Special Entry Darshan – It is a another paid queue system, charging Rs.300 per visitor. Devotees in this line can finish there darshan in about 2-3 hours. it is for who have less time to spend in temple & also can afford it.
The tickets will be issued at VQC-I in a separate queue line with 4 counters, after taking the tickets, the pilgrims are directly allowed for Darshan. Seeghra Darshan tickets will be issued on all the Sarva Darshan timings.
5. Apart from these lines there is a special darshan is arranged for the physically disabled and the aged, the infants along with parents through a separate gate at the Maha Dwaram,the main temple entrance. If necessary, such pilgrims can be accompanied by an attendant.
This is much appreciable to queue system by considering all the possibilities & many times, they mix , divert and redirect, all these queues to control the crowd at their level best.
It is visited by almost 60 to 70 thousand Devotees daily as everyday is a festival day for Devotees. The lord is worshiped six times a day as per Vaikhanas Bhagvad Shastram, Vimaanarachnaa Kalpam. This worship is performed strictly by Vaikhanas priests only. They are rendering their services for generations.
This number of Devotees goes up to 5 to 6 lacs during Vaishnava festivals like Vaikunta Ekaadasi, Ramnavami, Vasantotsava and Janmastami as they are celebrated with great enthusiasm. It even crosses 6 to 7 crores during special occasions like Brahmotsava, which is celebrated in the month of September at highly grand and glorified level. On these nine days of celebrations, the Tirumala turns into an ocean of Devotees.
There are officers to look after the facilities in the Vaikuntam Queue Complex, regulate the queues and attend to complaints
Its annual budget is estimated Rs. 10 billion, coming purely from devotees, making it rond richest temple in the world after Vatican city.
photo : ‘’The Shrine, with gold covered huge gopuram /tomb of lord Venkateshwar/Balaji temple, where main deity resides”
meanings :
1. Darshana : get view of main deity / Lord Balaji/ Lord venkateshwar
2. Gopuram : Tomb / Shrine of temple .
