Tirupati Balaji temple is located in state Andhra Pradesh, city Tirupati. Tirupati is a place where Lord Vishnu chose an alternative home to Vaikunth.
1:- Mundan (donating Hair) to Lord Tirupati Balaji
One fine day, Godess neeladhri finds Perumal taking nap in neeladhri mountain(one among the seven hills) , she starts admiring the beauty of Perumal, but a quick breeze reveals a bald spot in Perumal’s head. She plucks her hair and plants in Perumal’s head to make him obsolute beauty.
Perumal wakes up and finds hair in the spot which used to be bald. At the same time he notices blood from neeladhri’s head and offers to keep the hair back in her head. But neeladhri refuse the offer and says, “in future people will donate their hair to Balaji in order to get rid of sin, Sexual pleasures etc. All those hair that they give reach me only, so do not bother about this.”
2:- Sweaty deity
Lord Balaji’s image may be carved out of stone, but it is fully infused with life and very much alive, if reports are to be believed. The idol of the holy deity maintains a temperature of 110 degrees Fahrenheit, even though the surroundings are cool due to the steep location of the temple (3000 feet). Every morning, after the holy bath known as Abhishekham, droplets of sweat appear on the image of Balaji which have to be wiped off with a silken fabric by the priests. On Thursdays, when the priests remove the ornaments of the idol for a holy bath, they come off with a sensation of warmth.
3:- Crowbar at mahadhwaram
At the Mahadwaram of the temple, To the left side there is an Crowbar by which Ananthatalvar had hit Lord Venkateshwara swamy on the chin when swamy was in his childhood which oozed blood. Since then the tradition of applying sandalwood to his chin came into existence.
4:- The sacred Village
At a distance of 22 km from this sacred place there exists an village where no one is allowed except the residents of the village. The women of the village have a tradition of not wearing blouse. The Village has a garden of flowers from where the flowers are fetched and used in at the sanctum of the Lord Venkateswara Swamy. Not Just flowers, items like Milk, Ghee, Butter and all others used for the worship of the lord are brought just from this village only.
During 1800’s this temple was closed for 12 years. A King of unknown name of that time is said to have killed 12 people at the temple and hang them to the wall for doing unsacred thing at the temple. At this time it is said that Vimana Venkateswara have came to existence.
6:- The Jewels of Balaji
The estimated jewels of Balaji is 1000 crores.There is neither place nor time to decorate his jewels on him.These jewels are very old and highly precious. (Thank God neither the Muslim nor the British people loot the money and jewels of this temple). So the excess jewels are sold off .
His Saligrama gold necklace weighs 12 kg.
Suryakadari (a type of sword)-5 kg
Paadakavasam-350 Kg
There is a special and rare type of blue stone that costs 100 crores.
7:- The Thilakam and Thenkalai
Once there was a fight between the Vadakalai and Thenkalai sects of Vaishnavites about what type of thilakam to be used to mark on Balaji’s forehead.
Vadakalai people draw U shaped Thilakams and Thenkalai people draw Y shaped Thilakams.
To solve this issue these priests had asked the help of Nizam of Hyderabad.
Lastly he decided that a Tamil letter called Pa –ப will be the mark.
8:-Perpetual lit lamps
The light of an ardent devotee’s heart for the Divine never gets extinguished, so does the earthen lamps placed before the idol of the deity in the sanctum sanctorum of the Tirupati Balaji Temple. There are no reliable records about the time when these lamps were lit and who lit them. All that is known is that they have been burning since a long time and will continue to do so.
9:- Lord Balaji And The British devotees
In the year 1781 AD the British Army camped at a nearby Thakkolam (a place near Vellore in Tamil Nadu). A British soldier Levellian belonging to the 33rd Regiment was lying mortally injured. He prayed to Lord Balaji to save his life. On being fully recovered he sent through an Indian soldier what ever he had vowed to send to Lord Balaji.
Britishers like Sir Thomas Monroe, Col. Geo Stratten were devotees of Lord Balaji.
Respecting the sacredness of Seven Hills, no Britisher attempted to climb the hills during the period 1759 AD to 1874 AD. European Christian Fathers wanted to establish a Cross at least in one place in the Seven Hills. But the British Generals did not give permission for the same. The Britishers wanted the daily puja rituals at the Seven Hills to continue uninterrupted. They were anxious and worried that if the puja rituals were not held properly it may have an adverse effect on their rule of the country.
10:- THE TiRUMALA RANGES SHOW THE FACE OF LORD BALAJI.
Natural Arch in the Tirumala Hills is a distinctive geological wonder located 1 km (0.6 mi) North of the temple, near the Chakra Teertham. The Arch is also called Silathoranam in Telugu (“Sila” means ‘rock’ and “thoranam” means a garland strung over a threshold, connecting two vertical columns or an ‘arch’ as in this case). The arch measures 8 m (26.2 ft) in width and 3 m (9.8 ft) in height, and is naturally formed in the quartzites of Cudappah due to natural erosive forces.