The Sri Venkateswara Swami Temple, popularly known as Tirupati Temple, situated in Andhra Pradesh, holds significant reverence as one of India’s wealthiest and most renowned temples. Devotees from all corners of the country visit this sacred place to seek the blessings of Lord Venkateshwara, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Now, the temple trust has embarked on an ambitious plan to construct replicas of the shrine in every state and union territory across India.
Tirupati Trust Aims to Spread the Presence of the Temple
As part of the visionary plan set forth by the Tirupati Temple Trust, replicas of the Lord Venkateshwara temple are being constructed in various locations throughout India. The trust has identified places such as Jammu, Chhattisgarh, Navi Mumbai, and Gujarat as sites for these replicas.
This initiative is a significant undertaking by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), the trust responsible for managing the temple. The objective is to establish a pan-Indian presence of Lord Venkateshwara, also known as Lord Balaji, through these replicas.
Chairman of TTD, YV Subba Reddy, explained to TOI that the construction of replicas in all 28 states and 8 union territories of India aims to bring the divine blessings of Lord Balaji closer to devotees. Furthermore, TTD, under the guidance of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, intends to build smaller temples in remote and underprivileged villages across southern Indian states.
A Rich History and Expanding Presence
The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) trust was established in 1933, initially overseeing only a few temples, including the Lord Venkateswara Swamy temple at Tirumala, the Sri Govindaraja Swamy temple at Tirupati, and the Sri Padmavathi Ammavari temple at Tiruchanoor.
Today, there are approximately 58 Lord Venkateshwara temples across India, with the majority located in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana. The first temple constructed outside of Andhra Pradesh was the Balaji temple in Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, in 1969. In 2019, a Lord Venkateswara temple was built in Kanyakumari, the southernmost tip of India. More recently, on June 8, 2023, another temple was inaugurated in Jammu.
The trust is currently in discussions with the Nitish Kumar government to establish three additional temples in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, and Bihar. In Maharashtra, the foundation stone for a replica temple was recently laid in Navi Mumbai, following the allocation of land worth ₹600 crore by the state government.
Have you ever had the opportunity to visit the Tirupati Temple in Andhra Pradesh?
