History Of Tirupati Balaji Temple

• The idol has real hair and they never get tangled. According to a legend, Gardhavan princess cut her hair and gave it to Swami, when he was hit by a shepherd and lost some of his own.
• The idol appears to be standing in the middle of the sanctum from outside whereas the idol is actually slightly towards the right-hand corner of the Garba Gudi.
• Nobody knows when was the lamp lit before the idol but everybody believes it has never extinguished and has been alive for thousand years.
• After the morning Abhishekam, the idol sweats and the sweat is wiped with a silk cloth.
• Tirupati Balaji holds the record of being the richest as well as the most visited temple of India. The shrine receives offerings from devotees in cash, jewellery, gold, silver, property deeds, and Demat share transfers and the per day offering is around 22.5 million.

• The structure of the temple was constructed around 300 AD. The Dravidian Style construction included the use of sandstones, granites and soapstones.
• The silk dress Swami wears is 21 arms long and weighs around 6 kilos. The upper body of the idol is covered with saree and the lower body is covered with a dhoti. Also the dress of the idol is never bought from a shop rather the devotees who wish to contribute towards towards submit a sum of amount to the temple’s fund.
• The temple has various stone engravings from different ruling administrations of history. There are about 1180 engravings out of which 139 belong to the ruling period of Kondoi Veedu, 229 belong to King Krishna Deva Rayar, 147 belong to Sadasiva Rayar, 251 belong to Achchuthan Rayar period, 169 belong to Chalukya Kings ruling period and 236 belong to the Chola period.
• Tirupati Balaji Temple holds a special significance amongst Hindus. According to the religion, Hinduism says that there are a total of 8 Vishnu Swayambhu Kshetras and Tirupati is one of them. Also, this temple is mentioned by the Tamil Azhwar saints to be one amongst 106 Vishnu temples, to be present in the earthly realms.
• As per the Vaikhanasa traditions, the deity is worshipped six times a day. Ushakala, Prathakala, Madhyanika, Aparahaa, Sandhyakala and Ardharatri Aradhana are the six aradhanas done for the deity.

• The “Prasad” offered here is a registered Geographical Indicator (GI) and was done after black market boomed during the preparation and distribution of these sweets.
• The main idol of Balaji is alive! People believe it because when you place your ear on the back of the main idol, you can hear the sound of a roaring ocean.
• All the garlands, flowers, milk, butter, holy leaves, everything which is offered to Balaji, comes from a secret village. The only information the outsiders have, about this village, is that it is located somewhere around 20 kms away and nobody is allowed to enter or visit this village except the residents.
• Indian Goddess Laxmi still lives in the heart of Balaji. Literally! According to the priests in Tirupati Balaji, during NijaRoopa Darshanam on every Thursday, the main idol is decorated with white wood paste.After the paste is taken off, the imprint of the Goddess is left.

• The surroundings of this temple appears normal but when you explore it, the place becomes fascinating. Not far, the Garuda Hill in Tirumala is quite interesting to sight. The hill got its name because of the shape of a Garuda (An Eagle). What’s interesting is the fact that Garuda is considered an abode of Lord Venkateshwara.
• Another similar fact about hills is, one of the hills have a face of Swamy. It appears as if he is sleeping and you can actually see the face.
• The entrance of the Tirumala hills has a rock formation which appears to be like a serpent hood. The distance of this formation is same as the height of the main idol.
• At the main gate of the temple (Mahadwaram) one could find a stick. According to the beliefs, that stick was used by Ananthalwar to beat Swami when they were children. During this, one day swami got hit on his chin which oozed blood. Since then the ritual of applying Chandan on Swami’s chin came into existence.
• The idol is stronger than any material. Even after the application of Green Camphor, which is known as the strongest material that could initiate a crack in any stone, the idol of Swami is unaffected.
• A strong belief on a legend about the actual existence of Swamy is found in the region. The incident goes like there was a king of unknown name who killed 12 people for a crime they committed and hanged them on the gates of this temple.