Astonishing facts about Thirupathi
We visit Thirupathi to worship Lord Balaji. At the same time, we are unaware of certain facts and practices and secrets which are stranger than fiction. They are as follows.
There are certain astonishing secrets in Lord Venkateswara's statue few are
There are are very rare stones (rocks) within one kilo meter from the temple. They are known as "Silaa thoranam" These stones(rocks) are available only here in the whole world. The age of these stones(rocks) is 250 crores of years . The image of Balaji is made out of these stones. They smear the image of deity with a "type of camphor ". It is a chemical and if a granite stone is smeared with that it will crack in due course. All the 365 days of the year the image is smeared with this chemical. But this image does not show any cracks due to this practice
Usually any image made of granite or metal will reveal the chisel marks of the sculptor at least at one spot. If it is metal, the places of joint, after they are heated and poured will be visible. No such marks are visible in the Deity's image. Any stone statue will be rough, but in the statue of Lord Venkateswara, even the minute artist works appears as though they are polished. Even the artist work of the sculptor on ornaments such as "chutti, ear ring, Brows, and Naagabarnam are shining like, as though new jeweleries are polished.
The image is always kept in 110 degree Fahrenheit. The Thirupathi hills are 3000 ft above sea level. At 4.30 A.M oblations are done with cold water, milk and scented water. After the oblation the image of Balaji sweats and the sweat is wiped with "Peethaambar" cloth. On Thursdays, before oblation, when the jewels are removed the ornaments are felt hot. Thirupathi temple, the prayers, Hundi collections, Pooja procedures, Historical incidents are very special and astonishing nature. In the kitchen, which is very big, Pongal, curd rice, tamarind rice, chitrannam, Vadai, Murukku, Jilebi, Poli, Appam, Moukaaram, Laddu, Paayasam, Dosa, Rava kesari, Badam kesari, cahewnut kesari are prepared in huge quantity. Every day the temple purchase a new mud pot for Balaji and only curd rice is offered to the Lord. No other Neivedhyam (food preparations) will go inside sanctum, crossing "kulasekara padi (step)" and offered to Lord. Even Gold, diamond vessels will not cross this step. A devotee is considered very fortunate if he gets this mud pot and curd rice.
The dress of the deity consistsd of 10 1/2 yards length and 6 kgs weight and made of silk, This cannot be purchased in the shop. Rs.12,500/- is to be paid at Thirupathi Dhewasthaanam's office. only once in a week, i.e on Friday alone they decorate the Lord as outer dress with this cloth. The person who offered the donation for this has to wait for three years for his turn. The inner set of cloth set will cost Rs. 20.000/-. Fifteen sets on every Friday is offered to Lord. Those who paid for this service has to wait for ten years for his turn after paying the money. Apart from the dress offered by devotees, the Government offerings are offered to Lord twice in a year. If you want to offer Oblations to Lord, you have to wait for three years after paying the money. For "Abhishekam" Saffron is ordered from Spain,"Kasthuri"(Musk) from Nepal, Civet, the perfume from China. and many other perfumes from Paris. They are liquidised in a Golden plate with Sandal and 51 braced vessel known as "Vattil" with milk is mixed and then poured on the image of the Lord. After the Musk and Civet is applied , from 4.30 A.M to 5.30 A.M the "Abhishekam" is performed. This cost is about Rs. 1.00 lac.
The well preserved roses from Amsterdam of Europe are sent by devotees by plane. The cost of one such rose is about Rs.80/-
Scented articles sch as camphor, Frankincense, sandal, fragrant flowers, cloves, saffron etc., are sent to the temple from China. The worth of jeweleries of Lord Venkateswara is Rs. 1000 crores. There is no space to store them or time to decorate the deity with these jewels . They are auctioned after publishing in newspapers. The Lord's "Saalagrma" golden necklace weighs 12 kilos and requires three priests to carry and place it on the image. "Surya Kattari" weighs 5 kilos; the covering sheets for the feet weighs 375 kilos. The blue gem in temple is nowhere else in this world and it costs about 100 crores. Emperors like Raajendra chozhan, Krishna Dhevaraayer, Achutha rayer have donated amply to this temple They also created many charitable trusts and the details of which are engraved in stones and copper plates. The queen of Chola also visited the temple and made offerings. Since the size of the deity in the sanctum sanctorum is huge, to make it convenient to perform the oblation and decoration a smaller idol made of silver was installed on 8th June 966 A.D. Kaadavan perundhevi, the queen of Pallava king Sakthi vidangan, donated her jewels to make the idol as well created a charitable trust for the pooja. King Kuloththungan I visited Thirumalai and made his offering to Lord. The paintings in the temple are 300 years old. On Fridays the "vilva" (Crat&ae;va religiosa ) leaves are used for "Archana" It is also used in the month of Margazhi (Dec 15th to Jan 14). On sivarathri day a festival called "Kshethra paalikaa" is observed. The silver idol which is meant to take to procession, is decorated with diamond sacred ash, and taken out in procession around the temple. Thaalappakkam Annamayya has composed songs on Venkatachalapathi in the form of "parabrahmaa", and also in the form of Eaaswara and Shakthi and engraved the songs on copper plates. Arunagiri Naadhar who sang "Thiruppugazh" has visited Thiruppathi, He is a contemporary of Annamayya. Muthuswamy Dhikshiter, one of the Music Trinity, who practiced "Sri Vidhya" had composed hundreds of songs on many deities, and his "Seshachala Naadham" in "Varaali" raaga is on this Lord. It is believed that Lord Venkateswara opens his "third eye" at the time of oblation. The temple tree of Lord Venkateswara is tamarind tree. Any God's statue with grace and tranquility will also have at least one weapon. But, in the statue of Lord Venkateswara you will not find any weapon. He is considered "devoid of any weapon" That is why he was praised in our olden days literatures, as a "hunter with empty hand" In the year 1781 the British Cannon army was camping in a place called "Thakkolam". One Mr. Levellian, who belonged to 33rd wing was injured very badly. He prayed to Lord for his cure and after he got well he sent his offering through a Hindu soldier. The britishers, Sir Thomas Manroe, Colonel Geo Strottnen are devotees of Lord Venkateswara. Considering the divinity of Thirumalai, No English man went to Thirupathi from 1759 to 1874. Some christian preists wanted to place a cross in the mountain, But, even British Commanders did not give permission for the same. They wanted the oblation and poojas should be performed in the temple. They believed and feared, if not, their ruling will be affected. The skirt to Alarmel mangai is made of cotton at a place called Gadwaal. The weavers of this dress are from a community called Chenchu with lot of devotion. Since this dress is in direct touch with the deity's idol, the weavers will not consume meat or alcohol and they bathe thrice a day. To perform the oblations on Friday, all scented ingredients are ground on the previous night in a special room meant for this purpose. Saffron is also added for oblations. The devotees from abroad send regularly scented materials worth of Rs.50000?- per week Lord Venkateswara is treated as "Ambaal" for four days, Vishnu for two days and as Lord Siva for a day in a week, for the purpose of Pooja.
The water from oblation of Lord,is led by pipes into the temple tank. Since it is considered holy water, the devotees are required to take bath by standing in the water. and take the water in both the hands and leave it back into the tank. This is considered as the special worship. On Fridays, in the early hours, before oblation, a special prayer will be done. At that time as per vadakalai practice , the paasuram" Venkatamena petra" and "dhaniyans"will bechanted During the prayer the deity will be without any flowers or cloth
First a lamp worship is done and then the same worship will be repeated as per "Thenkalai" practice. Then offerings to God and lamp worship is done and at that time the Lord will shine with exquisite beauty.
Emperor of Vizianagarm, Achutha Royar constructed a temple on 1543 for Padmavadhithaayar. In the year 1764, this was demolished by Muslim army led by Nizam Dhowla and the remains are still there.
The garlands worn by Sri Aandaal from Thiruvilliputhtur temple are brought to Thirupathi and placed on the God. Sri Aandaal worshipped Balaji with devoton as her deity.
There are 1180 carvings on stone. In this 236 belong to Pallava, Chola and Pandiyas, 169 to chaalukyaas. 229 toKrishna Dhevaroyar, 251 to Achudha royar, 147 to Sadasivaroyar and 135 to Kondai veedu kings. During the period between Nandh varma Pallava of 830 A.D and 1909, there are only 50 engravings are of Telugu and Kannada language and the rest of 1130 carvings are only in Tamil....
