This is an article to give some of the specialties of the Thirupathi Thirumala Temple. These specialties are only few of the several such specialties or peculiarities.
Thirupathi Thirumala Srinivasa/Balaji temple is the richest worship place in the world. After the recent discovery of the treasure of Sri Padmanabha Swamy Temple at Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, there is a doubt as to whether Thirupathi or Thiruvnanthapuram is the richest. The Thirupathi temple wealth is from the offerings and hundi collections of the devotees from the below poverty common man to the emperors of ester years and the richest tycoons and politicians of the present day. Whereas the wealth of Sri Pdmanabhaswamy is to a great extent from the rulers of the erstwhile Travancore kings. Thirupathi Thirumala temple is in Andra Pradesh. Chennai is the nearest City. Next nearest City is Bangalore.
There are many peculiarities in or associated with Thirupathi Temple. Some of them are mentioned in this article.
There is a belief that this temple was originally a Devi temple of Bala Thripura Sundari and at a later period converted into the Srinivasa/Balaji (an aspect of Lord Vishnu). Some people believe that the idol of the deity is in feminine form.
The Hundi (offer boxes)of Thirupathi are famous. People put large offerings like bundles of currency notes of various denominations, gold/silver coins and biscuits, precious stones etc in large quantities. This temple utilizes large funds for religious and educational purposes. The temple trust maintains religious and educational institutions for public. It is trying to spread the Hindu religious concepts.
The archakas (Poojarees/priests) of the temple state that the idol of the deity of Thirupathi temple is hot to touch and they say that it will be around 43.5 degree Celsius (110.04 degree Fahrenheit) temperature in spite of the temple being at a height of about 3000 feet above sea level with breeze. They say that when the ornaments are removed from the idol in the mornings the same will be very hot.
Everyday morning during suprabhath the idol will be bathed with different items like milk, curd, ghee, honey, tender coconut water, fruits, water etc. The idol will have sweating immediately after the abhishekaas (sacred bathing) with the above items. The priests remove the sweat with the use of silk cloths.
The most famous naivedya (food offering) is curd rice. The curd rice is cooked and offered daily in new mud pots. The curd rice offered to the deity is offered as prasad to devotees. The devotees who get this consider it as an evidence of the lords blessings to them. The most famous offering of thirupathi temple is the famous thirupathi laadoo. It used to remain without damage for a week and the size used to be as much as a big coconut. Now the laadoos are made mechanically and will last only for 3 to 5 days without getting spoiled and the size also reduced to the half of original.
The silk clothing used to adorn the lord will be about 10 meters long and is specially made by a weaver family as their right. This cloth weighs about 6 kgs. People who want to buy this cloth have to pay a deposit amount to the trust and wait for about 5 years to have their turn. The cloths used on special days will cost about Rs 30,000/- and people may have to wait for more than 10 years after paying for the same. So much demand is there for these cloths.
The idol of the deity is made of a special type of rock found in one of the 7 hills about 2 km away from the hill where the temple is situated. It is believed that these rocks are 2500 million years old. According to some if camphor is used on the stone the stone will develop cracks. But in Thirupathi camphor is applied every day to the idol without any damage.
The pooja items for this temple come from different parts of the world daily by air flight. The saffron (kumkum) flower comes from Spain, Kasthuri comes daily from Nepal, Gorochan and akil from China, Sandal oil and musk comes from Paris and Rose flowers from Amsterdam.
The idol at Thirupathi temple is decorated as Mahalakshmi on 4 days, as Lord Vishnu on 2 days and 1 day as lord Parameswar. On Sivarathri days the forehead of the idol will be smeared with diamond ashes. The temple's tree is Tamarind tree unlike the Banyan tree usually found as the temple tree of Vishnu temples. The temple is open for the maximum time comparing to any other place of worship. We will find almost all the deities with at least one weapon in the hand, but the idol at Thirupathi Thirumala Temple is without any weapon.
It is a worship place where maximum number of devotees visit every day comparing to any other place of worship in the whole world. On normal days the average number of devotees visiting is estimated at about a lakh. The temple provide free lunch for any number of devotees if they take free token (to avoid wastage) for the same. Tens of thousands of people take food here considering it as prasad.
While most of the people go to the temple at the top of the hill in vehicles, a large number of devotees climb the hill (as a wow) which will take about 2 to 3 hours depending on the health and age of the devotees.
Before visiting the Thirupathi Srinivas/Balaji temple one is supposed to have Darsan (worship) of the Varaha Swamy (god with the head of boar an incarnation of Lord Vishnu to rescue the earth from going to the bottom of the milky ocean). After this the Lord Srinivasa is to be worshiped and then have darsan/worship of the Lord's consort Padmavathi at her temple at Thiruchanur about 8 km from the Thirupathi temple. After this darsan, the devotee is to visit the Kalahasthi Siva Temple about 45 km away from Thirupathi towards Chennai. Only with these the worship of Thirupathi is supposed to be complete and fruitful. The Kalahasthi temple is a famous Siva temple where people go to offer prayers to ward of Sarpa Dosha (parihara or relief from the bad effect due to unfavorable positions of the shadow planets Rahu and Kethu).
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