Sri Venkateswara Swami Temple, Tirumala, Tirupati District – Tirupati Balaji Temple, Andhra Pradesh
Lord Venkateswara, an incarnation of Vishnu, who is believed to have appeared here to save mankind from trials and troubles of Kali Yuga. Hence the place has also got the name Kaliyuga Vaikuntham and Lord here is referred to as Kaliyuga Prathyaksha Daivam.
Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple is a landmark Vaishnavite temple situated in the hill town of Tirumala at Tirupati in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh, India. The Temple is dedicated to Lord Sri Venkateswara, an incarnation of Vishnu, who is believed to have appeared here to save mankind from trials and troubles of Kali Yuga. Hence the place has also got the name Kaliyuga Vaikuntham and Lord here is referred to as Kaliyuga Prathyaksha Daivam. The temple is also known by other names like Tirumala Temple, Tirupati Temple, Tirupati Balaji Temple. Lord Venkateswara is known by many other names: Balaji, Govinda, and Srinivasa.
The Tirumala Hills are part of Seshachalam Hills range. The hills are 853m above sea level. The Hills comprises seven peaks, representing the seven heads of Adisesha. The seven peaks are called Seshadri, Neeladri, Garudadri, Anjanadri, Vrushabhadri, Narayanadri and Venkatadri.
The stone idol of the Lord is very smooth; the impact of the chisel on the surface of the stone idol had not left any mark on the surface and it is without any imperfection!
The idol maintains itself at 110 Degrees Fahrenheit! The hill temple is at an altitude of about 3000 feet above mean sea level. During the winter season, Abhishekam is performed to the idol at 4.30 AM using cold milk and water. At the end of the Abhishekam, the priests wipe the idol with silk cloth and then they find water droplet appearing on the idol!
There are 1180 stone inscriptions in the temple. Out of this, around 50 are in Telugu and Kannada, wile the remaining 1130 are n Tamil.