Etymology

The word Thirupati means the Lord of Lakshmi and the word Tirumalai means Mountain of highness in Tamil.Tirumalai is called as Tirumala in Telugu. Tirumagal means Lakshmi, Pathi means husband or king, and Malai means hill. Another version of etymology goes like this. The word Thiru Venkatachalapathy is formed of few sub-words Thiru Vel irrukkum eedum or Thiruvenkadam and thalapathy. In other words, the place of the lord holding the sacred vel. Within Vaishnava tradition the temple is considered as one of the 108 most sacred temples throughout India, collectively known as 'Tirupathis'. Since Tirumalai and Tirupathi have been passed from the Tamil-majority Madras State to the majority-Telugu Andhra State, Tirumalai is now officially known as Tirumala.