Legend of Tirumala

For one of the major Hindu denominations, the Tirumala Sri Venkateshvara Temple at Tirupati in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh is the most famous Vaishnavite temple in the world. The presiding deity of Vishnu here is referred to as Venkateshvara. There are many legends regarding this temple. The Sri Venkatachala Mahatyam is the most accepted legend among these, which provides the religious account of the history of the temple across various yugas. This place had also been mentioned in many Puranas.

Tirumala as Varaha Kshetra


As per Varaha Purana, during Satya Yuga, Vishnu rescued the earth which was taken over by Hiranyaksha to Patala (underworld) in the form of Varaha – a wild boar with tusks. He fought a fierce duel with Hiranyaksa killed him. He then slashed the water and brought up the earth on his tusks. Brahma, the Devas and the sages extolled Adi Varaha's virtues, by chanting the Vedic mantras. They prayed to him to re-establish the earth as before. Varaha obliged them, and called upon Brahma to recreate the world. He expressed his desire to reside on the earth to protect its people. He commanded his vahana, Garuda to fetch Kridachala (an extensive natural hill with lofty peaks, embedded with gold and precious stones, and which resembled Shesha in shape) from Vaikuntha. Garuda brought Kridachala and deposited it on a sacred spot (to the East of Swami Pushkarini) chosen by Varaha. Brahma and the other holy personages requested the fearsome-looking Varaha to assume a tranquil and composed look, and rest on the hill to protect men and grant boons to people unable to reach God through Dhyana Yoga (meditation) and Karma Yoga (doing one's own duty). Varaha appeared with four arms and a white face. He was adorned with jewels and accompanied by Bhudevi. He resolved to stay at Venkatadri, under a divya vimana, to grant the prayers of devotees.

Legend of the Seshachalam Hills
It is believed that the origins of the Tirumala Hills(Seshachalam Hills) lies in a contest between Vayu (the wind god) and Shesha (the first serpent). During the Dvapara Yuga, Shesha blocked Vayu from entering Vaikuntha as Vishnu was in the company of his consort, Lakshmi. An incensed Vayu challenged Shesha to a fight to decide the stronger between them, Vayu was tasked with trying to blow off Shesha from the holy Meru mountain while adisesha was asked to protect the peak with his hood. After a long time, Vayu appeared to stop and Shesha lifted his hoods assuming that he had won the contest. Then, all of a sudden, Vayu then blew away one of the peaks. The peak landed near the Swarnamukhi river. Shesha landed here and merged here with the hill. This hill is now known as Seshachalam Hills. A variant to the legend is that the contest created pandemonium on earth and Brahma, Indra and other gods pleaded with Shesha to relent. When Shesha accepted the plea, the peak (Ananda hill) and Shesha were blown off (from) Meru and landed near the banks of river Swarnamukhi. When Shesha was dejected and sad with his defeat, the gods converted Shesha into the seven hills with the hood named as Seshadri hill or Seshachalam hill or Venkatadri hill. Another variant to the story is: Shesha, fatigued by the contest was instructed by Vishnu to rest on earth in a place that he chose for his stay in Kali Yuga. That place is known as Tirupati.

Departure of Lakshmi
In the Kali Yuga, a number of sages who were performing a yajna (ritual sacrifice) sought the advice of the sage-divinity Narada regarding which of the Trimurti the ceremony should be dedicated to. Narada suggested that the sage Bhrigu should be allowed to decide after he had met with each of the Trimurti in their abodes. Bhrigu visited Brahma in Brahmaloka and Shiva in Kailasha and went unnoticed by both of these deities. Bhrigu cursed Brahma that no temple would be erected for his worship; he cursed Shiva that temples on earth would worship him in the aninonic form of a lingam.

When Bhrigu visited Vaikuntha, Vishnu's abode, the deity was absorbed in meditation with his feet being attended to by his consort, the goddess Lakshmi. Feeling dishonoured by the lack of appropriate welcome, a furious Bhrigu kicked Vishnu on the chest. Vishnu stirred and apologised to the sage by massaging his feet. During this act, he squashed the extra eye that was present on the sole of Bhrigu's foot, which destroyed the sage's egotism. The sage, impressed by Vishnu's act, declared Vishnu to be the deity worthy of the dedication of the yajna. Lakshmi was outraged by the sage's misdemeanour and Vishnu's silence at the act, since she was spiritually associated with the chest of her consort. The goddess departed from Vaikuntha, arriving on earth.

According to tradition, she arrived at the region of Varaha Kshetra and performed an intense penance for twelve years. The gods, terrified by her penance, mollified her into returning to Vaikuntha with the promise that she would be incarnated on the site of her penance as Padmavati during the rule of the king named Akasha Raja.

Departure of Vishnu
After the departure of the goddess Lakshmi, Vishnu left Vaikuntha and took his abode in an ant-hill on the Venkata Hill, under a tamarind tree and beside a pushkarini (lake). Brahma and Shiva, taking pity on the condition of Vishnu, assumed the forms of a cow and a calf to serve him. Surya, the sun god, informed Lakshmi of these events and requested her to sell the cow and calf to the king of the Chola country, assuming the form of a cowherdess.

Curse of the king
The king of the Chola dynasty sent the cow and its calf to graze on the Venkatadri Hill along with his herd of cattle. Discovering Vishnu in the ant-hill, the cow every day emptied her udder over the ant-hill and thus fed the deity with pure milk. Over a period of time, the queen noticed that the cow did not yield any milk and chastised the cowherd severely.

The cowherd, seeking to investigate the cause, followed the cow and discovered the animal emptying her udder over the ant-hill. In his anger, the cowherd aimed a blow with his axe on the head of the cow. Instead, he struck Vishnu, who rose from the ant-hill to receive the blow and save the cow. On seeing Vishnu bleeding, the cowherd fell down and died. On the death of the cowherd, the cow returned to the king with blood stains on her body, bellowing in the presence of the king. An anxious king followed the cow to the scene of the incident. Near an ant-hill, the king found the cowherd lying dead on the ground.

He observed that the cows were offering their milk to Vishnu. However, Vishnu was in disguise, and so the king could not identify him. The king strung his arrow, believing that the milk should serve the kingdom rather than the boy he saw. Vishnu, once again, emerged, and grew enormous, stopped the arrows from passing further and he cursed the king for not maintaining the dharma of his kingdom. The king repented and surrendered at the deity's feet. Unlike the shepherd, the king had realised his mistake, which pleased Vishnu, and hence presented him with the boon that he would marry the king's daughter in his next birth.

Birth of Srinivasa
In due time, the Chola king was reborn as Akasha Raja and though he ruled well, he had no children born to him. When he conducted yajna and was tilling the ground, he found a baby in a lotus flower and named her Padmavati and adopted her as his daughter. Vishnu reincarnated as Srinivasa (or presented himself after penance in the ant-hill) as the son of the elderly woman Vakula Devi, who was the rebirth of Yashoda the deity Krishna's foster-mother. Unhappy that she had been unable to attend Krishna's wedding to Rukmini, the deity promised that he would be reborn to her as a son, as Srinivasa.

In course of time Princess Padmavati grew up into a beautiful maiden and was visited by the sage Narada. On reading her palm, he foretold that she was destined to be the spouse of Vishnu himself. In due time, Srinivasa, on a hunting trip, was chasing a wild elephant in the forest. The elephant led him into a garden where Princess Padmavati and her maids were present .The sight of the elephant frightened them and their princess. When Srinivasa appeared in front of the elephant, it immediately turned round, saluted the deity, and disappeared into the forest. Srinivasa noticed the princess and enquired about her from her maids. Enthralled by her, Srinivasa lost interest in other activities and confided in Vakula Devi on his love for Padmavati. He also revealed his identity as Vishnu as well as told her about her past life as his foster-mother Yasodha.

Wedding of Srinivasa and Padmavati
Vakula Devi travelled from her hermitage to approach Akasha Raja with her proposal of marriage between Srinivasa and Padmavati. In the meantime, the restless deity came to the city in the disguise of a fortune-teller. Princess Padmavati also fell in love with Srinivasa and fell ill after returning to the palace. Unable to diagnose the cause of her sickness, the maids invited the fortune-teller into the palace to foretell the future of the princess. When the fortune-teller revealed that Padmavati was born to marry Vishnu in his current avatar as Srinivasa, she recovered. As the king heard of this news, Vakula announced herself to the king and asked for his daughter's hand in marriage to her son, Srinivasa. The overjoyed king agreed and his advisor Brihaspati wrote the invitation for the wedding between the two deities.

Srinivasa called for a conference of the gods to gain their consent for his marriage with Princess Padmavati. The deity also obtained a large loan from Kubera, the god of wealth, towards the expenses for the wedding as well as provide proof of his wealth.

Srinivasa turns into Venkateshvara
About six months after this celestial wedding, Brahma and Shiva explained to Lakshmi regarding her consort's desire to be on the seven hills for the emancipation of mankind from the perpetual troubles of Kali Yuga. Lakshmi as well as her form of Padmavati also turn into stone idols expressing their wish to be with their deity always. Lakshmi stays with him on his chest on the left side while Padmavati rests on his chest's right side.

Rangadasa was a staunch devotee of Vishnu and in the course of his pilgrimage, joined Sage Vaikhanasa Gopinatha, who was going up the Tirumala Hill for the worship of the deity. This was after the deity had settled the Adivaraha region. After bathing in the Swami Pushkarini, Rangadasa viewed Vishnu beneath a tamarind tree. However Vishnu was exposed to the sun, wind and rain and was only protected by the extended wings of Garuda. Rangadasa raised a rough wall of stones around the deity, and started supplying flowers to Gopinatha every day for Vishnu's worship. One day, Rangadasa was distracted by a Gandharva king and his ladies and forgot to supply flowers to Gopinatha for Vishnu's worship. The deity then revealed Himself and told Rangadasa that he had not been steadfast and had succumbed to temptation. However, in acceptance of Rangadasa's devoted service to him till then, the deity blessed Rangadasa that he would be reborn as an affluent ruler of a province and would enjoy the earthly pleasures. He would continue to serve the deity, construct a beautiful temple with a vimana and high surrounding walls, and thereby earn eternal glory.

Soon the site was forgotten and an ant-hill formed over the temple. This is reputed to be the same ant-hill in which Srinivasa resided later after descending from Vaikuntha.

Temple for Venkateshvara
Rangadasa was reborn as Tondaman, the son of the royal couple, Suvira and Nandini. Tondaman enjoyed a pleasurable life as a young man. One day, he set out on a hunting expedition on the Tirumala Hill, and with the help of a cow-herd, saw Vishnu under the tamarind tree. Tondaman returned home, deeply affected by the vision of Vishnu. Tondaman later inherited his father's kingdom, Tondamandalam. In accordance with the directions given by Adivaraha to a forester, Tondaman constructed a prakaram (closed precincts of a temple) and dvara gopura, and arranged for regular worship of the deityas per Vaikhanasa Agama.

Venkateshvara appeared in the dream of Thondaman and asks him to build a temple for him where he turned into stone. So comes into being the temple for Venkateshvara on the seventh hill, named Venkatadri (Venkata Hill) at present day Tirumala-Tirupati.

Mention in Vedas
Discovery of the Venkateshvara deity is described as an act of divine providence: There was a huge anthill at Tirupati, and one day a local farmer heard a voice from the heavens asking him to feed the ants. By chance the local king heard the voice and began supplying milk for the ants himself. His compassion resulted in the liquid uncovering the magnificent idol of Venkateshvara hidden within the anthill.

Sri Vaishnava tradition opines that the Rig Veda verse X.155.1 makes an indirect reference to the temple. One such translation goes as: The person, devoid of wealth and vision, is implored to go to the hill which burns up all evil (vikata for Venkata) and drives away all obstacles to peace and prosperity. The call of the rishi Sirimbitha has obviously not gone in vain. Thondaiman, ruler of Thondaimandalam(present day Kanchipuram and the surroundings), is believed to have first built the temple after visualizing Vishnu in his dream. He built the Gopuram and the Prakhara, and arranged for regular prayers to be conducted in the temple. Later on, the Chola dynasty vastly improved the temple and gave rich endowments. To date, the various scripts are still seen inscribed upon the temple prakara walls. The Sangam literature such as that of Silapadikaram and Satanar Manimekalai, dated between 500BC and 300AD, mentions Thiruvengadam (now named Tirupati) by the appellation "Nediyon Kunram" as the northernmost frontier of the Tamil kingdoms. In fact, a fairly detailed description of the deity is given in lines 41 to 51 of Book 11 of the Silapadikaram. Again, the appellation "Nediyon" for the deity occurs in the following verses:

Puranic literature which was composed before the post-Mauryan and early-Gupta era also mentions Tirupati as the Aadhi Varaha Kshetra. The Puranas associate the site with Varaha, a Dashavatara of Vishnu. The Varaha shrine holds great importance in Tirupati and is said to be older than the main sanctum of Venkateshvara. There is also the Ranga Mandapam, which is to the left side of the temple as one enters.

Srivari Brahmotsavams
Srivari Brahmotsavam is the most important annual festival celebrated at Sri Venkateshvara Temple. The event is conducted for nine days during Hindu Calendar month of Āśvina which falls in between the English months September and October. As per the legend it is believed that Brahma will descend to the earth to conduct this festival and hence the festival got the name Brahmotsavams, meaning an utsavam(festival) performed by Brahma. Sri Venkateshvara Sahasranamastotra has references to Brahma performing the festival. To resemble this even now a small empty chariot will move ahead of the processions of the Venkateshvara's processional deity Malayappa.