Temples In India-1.pdf - Vivekananda Kendra Prakashan

VIVEKANANDA KENDRA PATRIKAThe Lord of TheSeven HillsPONNI S. RAVIIt is three o’clock in the morning.Darkness is getting ready to depart tofacilitate the arrival of the bright rays ofthe sun. At this hour of twilight, themelodious notes of the ‘Suprabhatam’ beginreverberating around the picturesqueseven hills of Tirupathi, waking up eventhe most persistent dawn-sleeper. Thepresiding deity of Tirupathi-SriVenkatachalapathi-is slowly awakened fromHis rather insufficient slumber through thisdevotionalmelody of ‘Suprabhatam’. The singing of‘Suprabhatam’ is incidentally the first ofthe many rituals that are conducted everyday at this earthly abode of LordVenkateswara.A temple that is being visited by over sixthousand pilgrims a day, does not requireany formal introduction. Considered to beone of the wealthiest shrines of India,Tirupathi in Andhra Pradesh, is one of the108 sacred shrines of the Vaishnavites. Itis also considered as one of the threeimportant earthly abodes of Vishnu inSouth India. The other two abodes are atKancheepuram and Srirangam, both in TamilNadu. In a country with a high degree ofreligious and linguistic variations, the shrineof Tirupathi spreads universal harmony bybeing visited by people from all walks oflife, all regions and religions.According to the puranas, the seven hillssurrounding Tirupathi are said to representTEMPLE INDIAthe seven hoods of Adisesha (the serpent)and the conception of the hills isrepresentative of the body of the serpentbedon which Lord Vishnu relaxes. There isno clear indication in any of our ancientmythological texts to ascertain the exactdate of construction of the temple.Mamulanar, the sangam poet is said to havemade a passing remark about this templein one of his earlier poems. By commonbelief, the temple is said to be asoayambhu. References to Tirupathi arealso found in Tholkappiam, an old Tamilliterary work and in Silappadhikaram, apopular Tamil epic wherein Sri Venkateswarais depicted as the embodiment of Vishnuwith a discus and conch.Brief HistoryThere is an interesting story behind theinstallation of Lord Venkateswara as a deityof Tirumala Hills. Among the many avatarsof Vishnu, it is said that He once took thehuman form and descended on to the earth.His consort, Lakshmi, too followed herhusband’s foot-steps and chose to be bornas a daughter of King Akasa Raja, assumingthe name of Padmavathi. It so happenedthat Lord Vishnu sought the very hands ofPadmavathi in marriage during this avatara.As she was the daughter of a wealthy king,her marriage required heavy financialassistance to be celebrated with the pompand gaiety associated with the wedding ofa princess. Lord Vishnu (known as‘Sreenivasa’ in this avatar) in His anxietyto marry Padmavathi, decided to borrowthe required sum from Kubera, the heavenlyfinancier. Incidentally, Kubera chargedexorbitant interest-rates and the loan57