Introduction and greatness of Tirumala: Om Namo Venkatesaya.
Tirupati and Tirumala are very important pilgrimage sites in India. Mythology says, “There is no place equal to Tirumala and there is no God equal to SriVenkateswara.” The people of India believe that the Supreme God Srimahavishnu descended and manifested in the form of the statue of Lord Srivenkateswara. Actually, there is no information about who made the statue. There are no records about the origin of the statue. It is strange that thousands of other temples in India around that place are destroyed by Muslim rulers, but this temple remained unscathed. The seven hills of Tirumala are located in the city of Tirupathi in the district of Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh (AP) State of INDIA. Andhra Pradesh is a state in southern India. There will be various modes of transport to reach Tirupati from anywhere in India.
Thousands of devotees climb the hill to reach the temple on foot. The number of devotees visiting per day ranges from around 50,000 to 500,000. During holidays, holy festivals or weekends, the influx will be very high. People stand for hours to take a look (Darshanam) at God. However, for the convenience of the devotees, the organizers, Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanam (TTD) provide several facilities that make use of modern technical developments.
Holy Places Besides SriVenkateswara Temple: On the hills there are various holy places like Papanasanam, Jabali teertham, Hathheeram Bavaji temple, Kodanda rama temple, many gardens etc. Down the hill around Tirupathi there is a sriPadmavathi devi temple at Alivelu mangapuram village, a Srilakshmi temple at Kariveerapuram temple and another Srivenkateswara temple at Srinivasa mangapuram.
Traditions: Under the new rule, devotees are supposed to enter the temple in traditional dress. Mostly people shave their heads as a sign of giving up their ego in front of God. Apart from this, people pray to God to help them overcome so many problems and after they get help they go to the temple and offer donations. Many tasty and sacred snacks (Prasadams) are offered to the devotees in the temple among which LADDU is very famous for its taste.