Venkateshwara (Telugu వెంకటేశ్వరుడు , వెంకన్న, Sanskrit: वेंकटेश्वर), also known as Venkatachalapathy, Srinivasa and Balaji, is a form of the Hindu god Vishnu in India. Venkateshwara means the Lord who destroys the sins of the people. According the Hindu scriptures, Vishnu, out of love towards his devotees, incarnated as Venkateshwara and appeared for the salvation and upliftment of humanity in this Kali Yuga and is considered the supreme form of Vishnu in this age.[citation needed]
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[edit] Etymology and other names
The name Venkateshwara can be split into multiple parts in Sanskrit: Ven (sins), kata (destroyer), and ishwara (Supreme Lord). Using this etymology, Venkateshwara refers to the Supreme Lord who destroys sins.
The ancient Vishnu kautuvam describes him as Souryarayan, the one who destroys the evil and who comforts us. He is also known as Maal, ThiruMaal, Manivannan, Balaji (though this is a more recent name),Venkateshwer, Srinivasa, Venkatesha, Venkatanatha, Venkatachalapathi, Thiruvengadam Udaiyaan, Tiruvengadattaan Tirupati Thimmappa, and by many other names. He is also worshiped with the name Tirupati Thimmappa all over Karnataka by traditionally Shiva-worshipping communities. The presence of seven hills in the area influenced alternate names for the deity: such as Edukondalavadu in Telugu and as Ezhumalaiyan in Tamil both of which mean "Lord of the Seven Hills". Lord Venkateswara is also known as Maha Ketarie and Maha Parmasree.
[edit] Legend
According to the scripture Sthala Purana, the legend of Venkateshwara's Avatara (incarnation) is believed to be as follows:
Sage Bhrugu, who according to Vedas is believed to have an extra eye in the sole of his foot, once visited Vishnu. At that time, Vishnu was in a private meeting with his consort, goddess Lakshmi, and failed to immediately receive and honour the sage. The sage felt humiliated and angry, and kicked Vishnu in the chest. Vishnu did not react and remained silent. Vishnu's chest is believed to be the abode of Lakshmi. The goddess felt highly insulted at the sage's misdemeanour and Vishnu's silence at the act. She left Vaikunta, the heavenly abode of Vishnu and Lakshmi.
Vishnu, in an attempt to pacify the sage, got hold of legs of the sage and started to press them gently in a way that was comforting to the sage. During this act, he squished the extra eye that was present in the sole of Bhrugu's foot. The extra eye is believed to represent the sage's egotism. The sage then realised his grave mistake and apologized to Vishnu. Vishnu had then incarnated Himself as Venkateshwara and came to earth in search of Lakshmi, who had taken birth as princess Alamelu (Padmavati) in the household of Akasa Rajan. The princess's father agreed to give his daughter's hand in marriage to Venkateshwara if he provided proof of his wealth. Towards the end, Venkateshwara obtained a heavy loan from Kubera, the Hindu treasurer god of the virtuous wealth in the Universe. Princess Padmavati and Lord Venkateshwara were then wed.
Vishnu, in the form of Venkateshwara, and his consort are believed to have enshrined themselves at Tirumala Tirupati for the benefit of mankind. This phenomenon is called swayambhu loosely translated to mean "self-existent and established on earth of one's own accord, without any external cause".
Venkateshwara's temple is at the top of the seven hills in the place called Tirumala. The temple of the Lakshmi, in the form of Padmavati, is located at the foot of the seven hills at Tirupati, in a town called Tiruchanur.
Another legend, a helper boy called Bala, was one day wrongly accused as a thief. He ran for his life when chased by people. He was hit on the head by the mob and his head was bleeding profusely. He ran to the Tirupati temple of Lord Vishnu and ran to the main door of the temple. When the people entered the temple, they couldn't find the boy but saw the head of god's idol bleeding. It was considered that the boy was sheltered and protected by Vishnu himself and the priests put cloth on the idol's head to stop the bleeding.
[edit] Location of main shrine
Venkateshwara's abode is in the Venkatam hills (the hills are more often referred to as ThiruVenkatam) near Tirupathi. Thus, the main temple of Venkateshwara is the Tirumala Venkateswara Temple. The Tirumala temple is believed to be the richest of all the temples in the world. The temple is located in Andhra Pradesh (southern India) in Chittoor district. It is around 120 km away from Chennai.
[edit] Adoration
Many saints had visited the shrine and worshipped Venkateswara. Notable among them, Adi Sankaracharya came to Tirumala and placed Sri Chakra at the feet of Venkateshwara and sung the song "Bhaja Govindam". Ramanujacharya, who installed chakra and conch on the deity after a dispute.[citation needed]
The Venkateswara Suprabhatam, being the morning recital of prayers and songs of awakening, is believed to have been written and sung by one of Ramanujacharya's disciples who visited the temple with his Guru. Sri Vadiraja Thirtha, most prominent[citation needed] among the Madhva saints is believed to have climbed the tirumala hill on his knees and is said to have given a garland of shaligram to the Lord.
There is Govindaraya Vishnu temple in the Tirupati town down below the hills with Vishnu in Yoga Nidra with Sridevi and Bhoodevi next to him. Traditionally, Kurubas is said to have built the temples on top of the mountains for the worship of Vishnu.
Several composers composed beautiful kirtanas about Venkateshwara, most notable amongst them being Tyagaraja and Annamacharya. Annamacharya, a devotee of Venkateswara, composed songs almost exclusively about the deity.
[edit] Symbolic Description
In iconographic depictions, Lord Venkateswara's eyes are covered, because it is said, that his gaze is so intense, it would scorch the universe.[1]
Other sources cite that the covering of the eyes is to hide the original identity of Venkateswara, as sources have cited that Venkateswara is a standing Alokitesvara Buddha.[citation needed]To back their claims, Shravana is regarded as a Buddhist tradition, as is hair tonsure.In addition, this is the only temple of Vishnu where the deities eyes are covered. Regardless, Venkateswara is and will always be a central deity in the Sri Vaishnava tradition.
[edit] Notable Venkateswara temples outside of India
There are many famous temples dedicated primarily to Lord Venkateswara that are outside of India. These include those in:
- Nairobi, Kenya
- Australia:
- Singapore
- United States:
- Pittsburgh (Penn Hills), Pennsylvania
- Malibu (Calabasas) (Malibu Hindu Temple)
- Atlanta (Riverdale), Georgia
- Chicago (Aurora), Illinois
- Bridgewater, New Jersey
- Livermore, California (Shiva-Vishnu Temple)
- Lanham, Maryland (Shiva-Vishnu Temple)
- Birmingham (Tividale), United Kingdom
- Mauritius
This list is not exhaustive, and there are many temples that have statues of Lord Venkateswara. However, these are the major ones outside of India. Based on the pact that Venkateswara agreed upon with Lord Kubera, monetary donations know no limit at temples where a statue of Venkateswara can be found.
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