Venkateswara Temple

The Venkateswara Temple (Telugu: తిరుమల వేంకటేశ్వర దేవాలయం, Tamil: திருப்பதி வேங்கடேஸ்வரர் கோவில்) at Tirumala, Andhra Pradesh is dedicated to Lord Vishnu as 'Venkateswara' (or Srinivasa) and attracts followers from a wide range of Hindu traditions. According to the tradition this temple has a self manifested idol of Vishnu and it is believed that Vishnu will reside on earth for the entire kaliyugam on tirumala hills. For this reason it attracts Hindus from across the world and is the most visited religious place in the world. The temple is the world's richest in terms of the wealth of offerings and gifts given by visiting pilgrims . For ages the hindu monarchs in south india donated invaluable ornaments and precious jewels. The mighty vijayanagar emperor Krishnadevarayalu, a devoted worshiper, renovated the temple and gave many invaluable ornaments to the temple lord. About 20,000 employees look after the LORD and the visiting piligrims. On average around 60,000 piligrims per day visit the temple,the highest in the world followed by Vatican, and on special occasions up to 200,000 per day. The temple is located on the Venkatachalam hill that forms part of the seven hills of Tirumala and hence the temple is also known as the Temple of Seven Hills (Edukondalu in Telugu and Ellumalai in Tamil). At the foothills is the city of Tirupati. Within Vaishnava tradition, the temple is considered as one of the 108 Divya Desam sites.