Thirumala|Tirupathi

Tirupathi or Tirupati which is also known as Thirumala is the abode of Lord Venkateshwara. This is one of the 108 holy abodes of Vishnavites. The legends say that Tirumala was the abode of Varaha (one of the incarnation of Mahavishnu) and during Kali Yuga, with the permission from him Lord Venkateshwara settled here after he married Padmavathi. The temple is most popular one in India.




The hill on which the shrine is situated is called as Venkatadri and it is the tallest of the 7 holy hills. The hills are part of the Nallamalai range. The seven hills are called as saptagiri and they give the impression of the 7 heads of Adisesha. The seven hills are known as Seshadri, Venkatadri, Garudadri, Narayanadri, Vrishabhadri, Anjanadri and Neeladri.



The temple is built in Dravidian style and the Vimana (Gopura) above the sanctum sanctorum is veiled with gold plate completely. Lord Venkateshwara is said to be a blend of both Lord Mahavishnu and Lord Shiva (both saver and destroyer, saviour of the devotees, destroyer of the evils). The devotees can go closer to the shrine in two different lines - one is a free darshan line and the other one is the paid line (which takes lesser time to go closer to the shrine). Though there are two lines both merges as one line when it reaches the Dwajasthambam on the outer or the third prakara. The only thing that many get used to and also get irritated at is the Jarugandi Jarugandi (keep moving keep moving), by the priests near the shrine. (If one is lucky enough they get more minutes (say about 2 to 3 minutes) to have a good darshan.

The day begins at 3.00 in the morning at Tirupati with Suprabatha seva. Prayers are offerred by devotees every day and there are so many sevas and Utsavams through out the day and through out the year. The day ends at 10.00pm in the night with Ekantha Seva.

The temple is visited by many every year and by their offerings which include huge amount of money, gold, silver and diamond have made this temple the richest temple of India. Legend says that Lord Venkateshwara have taken loan from Kubera for his marriage and he agreed to repay it by collecting it from his devotees.

The main offerring that people give in Tirupati is their hair and the main prasad that is distributed to the devotees is Ladoo.