The Hill-Shrine of Vengadam: Art, Architecture and Agama of Tirumala Temple (An Old and Rare Book)

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We have pleasure in presenting to the public this well-documented and profusely illustrated monograph on the Tirumala-Tirupati Temple, which is a famous and popular religious Institution in the country. This has been prepared by Vidyalańkara, Sastra-chudamani, Sangita-kalaratna Professor S.K. Ramachandra Rao, who is well-known in the scholarly world. He has worked for several years on this theme, and we are grateful to him for having given us the benefit of his experience and, scholarship by way of editing this work in the collection of Manuscripts of Kalpatharu Research Academy, entitled VENKATESA SEVA-KRAMA This book is at once authentic and informative. He has viewed the temple with a historical perspective, in the religious context, and has based his conclusions on Inscriptional and literary evidences.

The Kalpatharu Research Academy, Bangalore, has achieved another Important landmark by this publication. It hopes to undertake many more of such valuable publication-projects, and maintain the good name it has already earned for scholarly publications.

The Academy acknowledges the generous help rendered by Dr. R.K. PERTI, Director General, National Archives of India, Government of India, New Delhi.

We take this opportunity to thank all those who have been directly and Indirectly responsible for this publication, and in particular Sri. DV. Chary, Executive Engineer (Retd.), Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, Tirupati for the excellent photographs he has kindly supplied, and M/S Payonidhi Printers Ltd., for the neat and prompt printing of the volume.

When I finished the manuscript of this book, I felt relieved and fulfilled. I could truly say जय मे सफलं जन्म जीवितं च सुजीवितम् ।

'Today my life has been fulfilled, and I have indeed lived well'

For this was on my mind for over fifty years. Even when, as a boy, I visited this hill-shrine with my parents and grandparents, I was excited by the idyllic surroundings (which alas has disappeared in recent years) of the shrine, the majestic peaks, the deep gorges and the dense jungle through which one had to journey to reach the shrine. The god of the hills is my tutellary deity, and it has been a custom in our family for several generations now to visit the hill-shrine as frequently as possible, at least once a year. We go to no other place of pilgrimage, and in our puja-room it is only this hill-god who is worshipped. I could say, with Nammalvar, that here is the god whom my parents, their parents, their parents and all their ancestors have worshipped.

"......tiru vengadattu eļil-koļ šodi yendal tandal tandaikku" "endal tandai tandal tandal tandaikku mundal........"

During my annual visits as a young man I have roamed about three of the seven hills, visited the several shrines associated with the water-falls and streams on the hill, and have gone round all the apartments and enclosures of the hill-shrine. I also had occasion to study the inscriptions that abound here; I have looked at the temple's art, and architecture rather closely. In art and architecture, it cannot of course compare favourably with most of the South Indian temples. As a student of art I found little here that was really interesting. But the history of the temples over the centuries, as revealed by the Inscriptions as well as by the structures, fascinated me.

The enduring hold of this shrine over the Imagination and peity of the people from different parts of the country, and for great many generations, filled me with wonder. I have visited the shrine several times when travel to the shrine was rather hazardous, when facilities that we are now used to were utterly lacking, and when the sole attraction was the god of the hills that stands in the sanctum, towering over all the hills. Even then, crowds of pilgrims and devotees thronged the hill all through the year, excepting in the rainy season. I was struck by the deep devotion and single-minded zeal that were all too evident in these pilgrims, who cared for nothing else, and they did hardly anything else on the hills; especially the rural folk and tribals who climbed the hills almost mechanically went straight to the shrine as if nothing else mattered, and returned home as soon as they had a glimpse of the god of their dreams. What a contrast the current picture presents!

Whatever else I was doing in my professional career, this was always at the back of my mind: to reconstruct the history of this hill-shrine and to present to myself a complete account of the worship that went on there. About fifteen years ago I did write a book in Kannada, giving as many details as I could get from my own visits and my study of the Inscriptions. I wove a neat and meaningful fabric within the limits of historical accuracy. The book was no doubt well-received, and it even bagged the coveted Sahitya Academy award. But somehow I was left dissatisfied: I had not discussed the architectural unfoldment of the shrine, and had at that time very few photographs with me to illustrate the peculiarities of the apartments, the sculptures, the icons, and the festivals. I had also not unravelled many a riddle concerning the structures here.

I was, however, sure that I would be able to do a more satisfying job sometime later, and that I would procure all the necessary materials to present the hill-shrine in a much clearer light. My faith in the hill-god left no room for despair. And sure enough, the pieces began falling into their places, doubts were cleared, the dark niches were illumined, and the missing links were gathered. The hill-god found me friends and favourable circumstances.

The first and foremost among the gifts of the hill-god to me in the endeavour was Divi Vikhanasacharyulu (D.V. Chary), the retired Executive Engineer of the Tirumala-Tirupati Devasthanams. He was associated with the hill-shrine for more than forty years, and is intimately acquainted with every inch of the temple as well as the hill on which it stands. He is an extraordinarily intelligent, energetic, honest and efficient man. He had painstakingly collected all documents, reports, measurements, maps publications and photographs pertaining to this temple and its environs all of which he put in my possession with a readiness that was amazing, and without my having to ask for them! It was indeed a treasure for me.