Tirupati Balaji Temple of Chitoor, Andhra Pradesh

Tirupati Balaji Temple is placed in the Tirumala Hills of Tirupati at the Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh.
The temple is at the peak of 2800 feet from sea level.
Tirumala Hill includes seven peaks which represent the seven heads of Sheshnaag/Adisesha.
It is also recognized as Venkateswara Temple, Tirumala Temple, and Tirupati Temple.
Tirupati is a famous Hindu Temple and committed to Lord Vishnu who is here in the form of Venkateswara.
It is managed by the trust Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams(TTD).
TTD Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams also manage every shrine of Andhra Pradesh.
The headquarters of TTD is in Tirupati. And it has over 16,000 employees.

History of Tirupati Balaji Temple

Next to Tirupati is the famous shrine of Lord Venkateswara or Tirumala Venkateswara temple, a World Heritage site visited by millions of devotees. It is said that the temple was established by sage Narasimha Deva in the 11th century AD. The shrine has been one of the richest Hindu temples in India since the 12th century AD and has a huge collection of sculptures. The mandir is famous for the saptamarthi yagas or divine dances of the presiding deity Lord Venkateswara in the early morning and evening. However, most of the devotees who visit the temple are from Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Maharashtra.

It is a famous temple in India. Approximately 100k people visit daily in this temple while it increases during the festive season. Acc. to reports 35 million people visit here annually. It is also the wealthy temple in the world. The avg. monthly income of this shrine is 200 crore.

In Tirupati, most of the devotees buy tickets to enter the shrine on merit, like attending a religious festival. The offerings you make is given as a percentage of the merit you give to the temple for a certain amount of days. This is called Agni Dvara, the temple is called Virupaksha and the devotees need to offer certain food items to a priest for the service for that particular day. Every devotee is allotted a number from 1 to 30 and some devotees also have the blessings of the temple with them, thus each person gets a unique number. Since numbers are allotted to all of us, we are not able to perform our own rituals, and rituals are also not meant for the public. So the only people who are able to perform their own rituals are the priests and the temple authorities. The lord of Tirupati’s statue is not the Lord of Lord Venkateswara, it is the original Lord of that idol. It is also believed that it is one of the five most prominent Hindu mandir in the world which house the avatar of Lord Vishnu, namely Prakriti (प्रणी), Bhagavan (भागवन), Atman (अस्ति), Yoga (योग) and Narasimha (न्यासिक शर्म). These five deities are held to be the supreme abodes of the god and offer spiritual assistance to the millions of pilgrims who visit the holy place.

The idol of Lord Venkateswara, which has stood on top of a four-tiered lotus throne, was built in the 11th century AD by the great priest of Tirupati. The deity of Lord Venkateswara is believed to have appeared at the peak of the hill at Tirupati. The temple has an open-air auditorium called Padmasana Mandapam for regular performances of Vedic rituals and Hindu traditions and to watch daily rituals performed by priests. Other than the Lord of Tirupati, there are over 40 other deities inside the temple. It is believed that these other deities are like sons of the Lord and offer their prayers to Lord Venkateswara and Lord Shiva. This temple is believed to be the abode of Lord Venkateswara, the main deity worshipped in Tirupati. It is believed that only those who perform the yagas or rituals with faith and devotion are able to achieve this feeling.

By Air

If you are going by air you have to reach Tirupati Airport, which is the nearest airport to the shrine. From Airport the mandir is 36 km. And from there you could hire a taxi to Tirupati Temple and it will take approximately 40 minutes to reach there.

By Train

If you are going by train, then you have to appear at Tirupati Railway Station. From Station, the shrine is approx 10 km. and you can easily find many facilities to reach the temple.

By Road

If you are going by road then you have to reach Tirupati Bus Station. The owner of Tirupati Bus Station is Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation(APSRTC). And it is linked with every part of Andhra Pradesh, and other states like Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Telangana also.