700 years old — Secrets of Tirumala Tirupati Sri Govindaraja swamy temple
The Govindaraja Swamy Temple is a significant Hindu Temple located in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, India. It is one of the most important temples in the region and holds immense religious and cultural significance for devotees.
The main deity of the temple is Lord Govindaraja, a form of Vishnu, who is worshipped here with great reverence. The presiding deity is depicted in a reclining posture, symbolic of Lord Vishnu’s cosmic sleep.
There are 2 secrets with regard to this prestigious temple, let’s unravel them!
Travelling back to the 11th century-
There was a Chola king named Krimikantha. He was a devotee of Lord Shiva (Shaivaite) and he did not want any Vaishnavas (devotees of Lord Vishnu) in his kingdom. He destroyed Lord Govindaraja Swamy’s temple situated in Chidambaram, the deity of Govindaraja swamy along with his consorts Sridevi and Bhudevi were brought out from the temple and was later the idol was thrown into the ocean.
The Vaishnavas showed their remorse with regard to the situation and were very angry at the king but couldn’t do anything as he was the king.
But, after few days, few Vaishnavas came across the deity’s idol. They found the idol without even a single scratch and were in a fear the king will destroy the idol if he comes to know about this. The Vaishnavas secretively moved the deities to Tirupati.
Sri Ramanujacharya was there in Tirupati at that time. He was one of the most prominent theologians and philosophers in the tradition of Vishisht Advaita Vedanta, he strived hard for the development of Sri Vaishnavism, he also has a significant historical and spiritual connection with Tirupati.
During his visit, he undertook several important tasks that had a lasting impact on the temple and its rituals. He found that the deity reached Tirupati and visited the lord to worship him.
While inspecting the deity’s idol, Sri Ramanujacharya found out that there were few cracks on the idol which according to traditions meant that the idol was not suitable for worshipping (Archana). So, with the help of a Yadhava king of that region, who was also Sri Ramanujacharya’s student, instructed the workers to make another idol of Sridevi Bhoodevi Sahita Sri Govindaraja swamy with limestone.
The limestone will get dissolved when in contact with water, so Ramanujacharya instructed the Sri Vaishnavas to restrict Abhisheka for this reason since then. This deity’s idol made out of limestone was established on the northern part of the Govindaraja Swamy’s temple.
The idol of the deity Aandal was established on the southern part of the temple.
The Vaishnavites placed the original deity of Govindaraja swamy in a place called Manchineellakunta in Tirupati. The Manchineellakunta is always filled with drinkable water. The place never drained out of water even at the time of severe droughts. Devotees strongly believe that this is only because of the almighty’s opulence and blessings.
The second secret is about why the deity of Sri Govindaraja swamy is not established in the main temple.
If we observe, before 1979 (from sources), the main temple (infront of the Simha Dwaram) of the Govindaraja swamy Aalayam was empty. Govindaraja swamy on the Northern side and Aandal Ammavaru in the Southern side of the temple were established.
But, the middle temple (Main temple) stood empty. Why? It has a great mystery behind it, let’s unravel it! Few people back then knew about this mystery but even then this main temple was left as a mystery till it was discovered by PVRK Prasad Garu (Executive officer of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam).
Sri late PVRK Prasad visited the Aalayam and had the same doubt about why the middle/main temple was closed when he visited the Aalayam to worship the lord. He asked the priests about the main temple but his heart was not content with the answers given by the Archakas.
His curiosity didn’t let him rest and Prasad Garu right away started examining the temple. After few minutes of observation, he found out that the front part of the Garbha Aalayam of the main temple was found to be a small room, but the actual size of the main temple was even more when he took a look from the other direction which made him realize that there is a deity in here, but the entrance is covered with rocks and bricks forming a wall.
He immediately started his research with regards to the temple by reading old books related to the temple (also called as Sthaana Puranam), in one of the books he was surprised to find out that the temple in olden days was known to be Sri Parthasarathi temple (temple of Lord Krishna/ Partha’s charioteer where the name Parthasarathi comes from)
Prasad garu later consulted some excelled people in Shilpa Shastra (experts in Sculpture) and expressed his doubts regarding the main temple. After taking the measurements of the temple, the experts came to a conclusion that there is a possibility of a room to be present behind that wall.
Without any further delay, Prasad garu approached many spiritual scholars and requested them to give the permission to break the wall to find out what is behind it. The scholars and saints examined the Agama shastra, found out that there were no issues and approved Prasad garu to break the wall.
Aagama Shastra refers to a collection of scriptures that are fundamental to various religious traditions in India, particularly Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. These texts outlined detailed instructions for the construction of temples, rituals, worship practices and spiritual philosophy.
After breaking the wall, they found the most beautiful idol of Rukmini Sathyabhama sahita Sri Parthasarathy swami. Later, they consecrated (Prana Prathistha) the idol and started performing rituals.
A wall was built to the main temple because, long ago when Muslims were off for invasion, the villagers of Tirupati had built a wall just before the idol in the Garbha Aalayam. When they visited the main temple, as they had found a wall they thought nothing was there and left immediately.
Let’s thank PVRK Prasad Garu for his initiative to discover the glorious Sri Parthasarathi swami’s idol and we are being able to take the divine darshans of the lord and his consorts.
Hari Om tat sat ll
