A Divine Elevation

It isn’t without reason that a temple located on a tall peak, amidst a chain of mountains and dense jungles infested with wild animals has endured as one of the most visited and celebrated places that humankind has ever seen.

Known as the Vaikuṇṭha of Kali-yuga, the temple of Bhagavān Veṅkaṭeśvara in Tirupati is considered the real abode of Viṣṇu on this earth. The mountain has been known to poets centuries before the common era. The author of the Tolkāppiyam, the oldest treatise on Tamil grammar, calls it Veṅgaḍam, a name that is in use even to this day. He did not invent the name. It was in active usage for many centuries prior to him. Which is why he included it in his work.

Mountains, lakes, rivers, forests, oceans, the sky, the earth, the Sun, the Moon, and all aspects of nature have always been revered and worshipped in Indian culture. According to Hindu sastras, every temple is thought to be built in the image of a mountain. The mountain represents something that is beyond the terrestrial, transcending human thought, imagination, and comprehension. Mountains are known in Sanskrit as bhūdharas, that is, those that hold the earth together. It is therefore meaningful that one of the grandest temples of the sattva-mūrti (Symbol of Peace) and the sthiti-kartā (Maintainer of the Stability of the Cosmic Order), Viṣṇu is located on the top of a hill.

The sacred lore of Sanatana Dharma regards Vishnu as the all-pervading divinity who sleeps on the infinite ocean on an endless serpent (Ananta). He also resides on this hill, overlooking nature and nurturing culture.

The hill, which is the renowned as Tirumala or Śrī-giri, is not a single peak but a part of seven hills, that are collectively called Śeṣācala. The symbolism and layers of meaning herein are truly profound and expansive. There are seven doors to Vaikuṇṭha, the divine abode of Viṣṇu. The entire range of hills in Tirupati-Tirumala resembles the aforementioned divine serpent Ananta (or Ādiśeṣa).

The journey to the hill-top Tirumala temple from Tirupati is delightful, offering awe-inspiring views of cliffs and dales covered with vast stretches of green vegetation. It is a treat to the eyes and brings tranquillity to the mind. Every stream, waterfall, and pond on the way is a tīrtha, which literally means, something which helps us transcend from this earthly life to the spiritual bliss hereafter. It is a ford that connects the material with the spiritual.

The purāṇas extol the benefits of visiting this Tirumala. The Varāha-purāṇa for instance, derives the word Veṅkata as a combination of veṃ and kaṭa, which means immortality and wealth, respectively. In other words, the place bestows prosperity in the material world (abhyudaya) and leads the devotee towards eternal bliss (niśreyasa).

Vedānta-deśika, one of the most celebrated scholar-saints of the Śrī-vaiṣṇava tradition begins his Dayā–śatakam, which glorifies the grace of the divinity that resides on the Veṅgaḍam Hill. He says, in evocative language, that the “Tirumala hill itself is the grace of that great Vishnu crystallised, just like how sugarcane juice becomes solidified as sugar.” In fact, the purāṇas doubt the propriety of a mere mortal to step on a mountain which is the abode of all Devatas. To this day, thousands of devotees climb up the sacred Tirumala mountain on their knees and do not dare to let their feet touch the sacred mountain. This is the level of sanctity attached to Tirumala.

The temple, as it stands now has three prākāras, i.e., enclosing walls and two gopura-dvāras (entrance towers). The temple complex houses many sacred spots in addition to the main sanctum of Veṅkaṭeśvara. The include the Svāmī-puṣkariṇī, Varāha-svāmī shrine, Puṣkariṇī–āñjaneya shrine, Kṣetra-pāla shrine, and Svāmi Rāmānuja shrine (Bhāṣyakāra-sannidhi). There are exclusive rooms and chambers for specific purposes. These include the Teru-bommala-ara, a room where materials of the temple are stored; Chandana-ara, a room for grinding sandal paste; Mancham-ara, a room where the cot on which Venkateshwara sleeps is placed; Kaikala, a room for temple servants; Vahana-ara, a room for processional vehicles; Padagala-ara, a chamber for storing delicacies; Bokkasa-ara, the temple treasury. The temple boasts of over three-hundred nandana-vanas, that is, sacred gardens which are spread around the township of Tirumala. These gardens supply flowers for decorating the deity.

One can only imagine the manner in which this fabulous temple town engages people belonging to various cross sections of the society in managing the various shrines, sacred chambers, gardens, rituals and festivals. The process of decorating the main murti of Venkateshwara is itself an art which only a few have mastered, thanks to the unbroken tradition that passes on the skill from one generation to the next.

Several dynasties have contributed towards the construction of these various maṇṭapas, prākāras, and shrines. We find copious records of the Cholas, Pandyas, Vijayanagara kings as well as their feudatories making generous donations to the temple. The royalties were such great devotees of the temple that we find three copper-cast images of the Vijayanagara emperor Sri Krishnadevaraya and his queens Tirumala Devi and Chinna Devi. His contemporary records show that these images were installed by the emperor himself on January 2, 1517.

The renowned Āḻvārs have sung the glory of Tirumala and Sri Venkateshwara in ecstatic fervour. Rāmānujācārya is supposed to have visited it and made numerous additions and reformations to the rituals and structures. Tāḷḷapāka Annamācārya, the saint-musician, is known to have composed about thirty-two thousand saṅkīrtanas (lyrical compositions) in praise of the deity.

The main murti of the deity Veṅkaṭeśvara in the garbha-gṛha (sanctum sanctorum) is self-manifest. In other words, it was not installed by a human. The divine, of his own accord, descended to the earth and chose to reside on the Tirumala Hill. The dhruva-bera, that is, the murti, is also called the kevala-bera and embodies the vīra-sthānaka, the posture of valour.

It is in the experience of the devotees that this murti does not appear the same to all. Each devotee, depending on the impression he carries in his heart and mind, perceives the deity in his own way. This is a unique character of the temple. There are any number of records that testify to a divine mystery in the garbha-gṛha, which is fascinating and elusive at the same time. The vigraha is accessible to human experience but is beyond the grasp of the eye. It is an encounter that is fulfilling but leaves the devotee yearning for more.

The deity holds a śaṅkha (conch) and cakra (discus) in his upper hands and places the left lower-hand on his waist—known as the kaṭyavalambita-hasta. The right lower hand is in the varada-hasta, that is, indicative of bestowing the best of boons upon his devotees.

The Bhaviṣyottara-purāṇa mentions Lakṣṃī residing in the chest of the deity, thereby giving him the name Śrī-nivāsa. The corpus of āgamas prescribe this image of Lakṣmī to be two-armed and seated in the padmāsana – this form is known as the Vyūha-lakṣmī, the consecration and worship of which is meant to secure unbounded and eternal prosperity. The iconic śrī-nāmam on the forehead of Śrīnivāsa enraptures the eyes and the hearts of the onlookers and adds to the beauty of the image.

The sthala-purāṇa (local legend) states that Viṣṇu took his avatāra at this place in order to pacify and marry Padmāvatī Devi. It was also a fulfilment of a promise made to his mother in his previous avatāra as Śrī-kṛṣṇa that he would give her an opportunity to witness his marriage. Thus, his appearance as Veṅkaṭeśvara is, in a sense, a fulfilment of the śṛṅgāra, vāstalya, and vīra Rasas, in the paralance of aesthetics.

For centuries, the pilgrimage to Tirumala has been part of the Indian spiritual and cultural experience. Even now, there is a large population of devotees hailing from different corners of Bharatavarsha setting out on this pilgrimage entirely on foot. Their yearning for and their experience of just a glimpse – darshan – of Venkateshwara has an otherworldly quality to it. Thousands of Hindus save their meagre earnings – sometimes, for several decades – for that coveted glimpse. They are guided by an unswerving faith that a single darśana of the deity rids them of all sufferings and elevates the inner self. This is also the purpose of most Hindu spiritual and religious practices and customs. The āgamas have an ennobling phrase in this context: pūryante sarva-karmāṇi jāyate jñanamātmani. That is, these practices help us gain confidence and imbue strength within us to carry out all activities in the material sphere and inspire us to work towards gaining spiritual enlightenment.

The Tirumala temple on the Veṅgaḍam Hill is a microscopic representation of the macrocosm known as Sanatana Dharma.

About The Author

Arjun Bharadwaj

Arjun Bharadwaj is a writer, translator and Sanskrit scholar