Tirumala Temple Administration

Tirumala, the sacred abode of Lord Venkateswara, is one of the most revered Sri Vaishnavite temples in the country. This ancient temple is located 3200 feet above mean sea level in the seshachalam ranges. The Seven hills that comprise ranges are believed to represent seven hoods of Adisesha, the celestial serpent on whom Lord Mahavishnu reclines.

The temple of Lord Venkateswara is located on the seventh peak, venkatadri, thus earning the name, Thrivengadam. Over the years this has come to be known as Thiru Venkatadri and later on as Tirumala. There is an ample literary and epigraphic testimony to the antiquity of the hill temple. The Sastras, Puranas including the Venkatachala Mahathyam, and Alwar hymns unequivocally declare that in the present Kaliyuga one can attain Mukti only by worshipping Lord Venkateswara.

The earliest references to the temple of Lord Venkateswara can be found in Sangam period Tolkappiyam, an ancient Tamil treatise of the Second Century CE, and in Silappathikaram, written by Ilango Adigal around the same period.

The administration of the shrine was entrusted in 1843 CE to the Mahants of the Hathiram Mutt at Tirumala who administered the Temples till the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (T.T.D) Act was enacted in 1933 for better governance. In 1951, the act of 1933 was replaced by an enactment whereby the administration of T.T.D was entrusted to a Board of Trustees, and the E.O was appointed by the Government.

Tirumala Temple Administration