308. The other Temples of Tirupati

I have been to Tirupati a lot of times, but never thought that there would be other temples there, that are worth seeing.  Of course, no visit of Tirupati is deemed complete without seeing the Tiruchaanoor Thaayaar and Govindaraja Swamy temple.  There is always Google which could have been used to find out other temples in the area.  But I don’t use it unless it is very imperative😊!

It all started when my family and I landed in Tirupati last week.  Our darshan was at the 8pm slot on Thursday. My wife said we had to visit Thaayaar before visiting the Balaji temple.  So, we decided to reach Tirupati on Thursday morning so that we can visit the Thaayaar temple and then the Balaji temple at night.  And since I wanted to travel the Vande Bharat train, I had booked our return for Friday 3pm train.

After reaching the Tirupati railway station, I booked an Uber to take us to our hotel.  While chatting with the driver, he asked if we wanted to see other temples in Tirupati. He said by evening he will show us at least 6 temples, including Thaayaar and Govindaraja perumal. I told him I will call him later in case we are interested.  After discussing with my wife, we decided to take the offer.  I called him after breakfast and freshen up and the 4 of us, including our kids, were on for the temple darshan tour. 

We managed to see Thaayaar and Govindaraja Swamy temple by around 11:30am.  Then we reached Bala Srinivasan Temple by 11:55am.  The temple was supposed to close by 12pm.  The priest there informed us that the temple was built at around 800AD and Balaji perumal used to live here before getting married to Thaayaar.  The temple has been renovated now and the access road is quite narrow.  Unfortunately, I could not find any mention of this temple in the internet, so no further details😊! Since it was getting delayed, I did not click any pictures of the temple too.

Then we reached Vakula Matha temple, the mother of Lord Balaji.  Unfortunately, the temple was closed from 12pm.  We left it at that and went to see Srinivasa Mangapuram temple, also known as Kalyana Venkateshwara Swamy temple.  Lord Balaji and Thaayaar had stayed here for 6 months before moving to Tirupati. Hence a temple was built here.  More details on the temple can be found here Kalyana Venkateswara Swami, Srinivasa Mangapuram - Tirumala Tirupati Yatra

Next, we went to Agastheswara Swamy temple, a Shiva temple, whose idol was supposed to have been installed by Sage Agasthya. Had a nice darshan here too.  Details can be found here Agastheswara Swamy Temple - Thondavada - Timings | How to Reach (tirupatitirumalainfo.com)

Next stop was the Isckon temple.  Had a nice darshan here also.  They have kept the Exit from the temple in such a way that we have to cross all their shops selling clothes, books and eatables. The main deity is as shown in their website.  The details of this temple can be found here iskcontirupati.info

Then we went to Kapila Theertham, also known as Kapileshwar Swamy temple, another Shiva temple. The Shiva idol is supposed to have been installed by Sage Kapila, hence the name, Kapileshwar Swamy.  Had a nice darshan here also.  Details of the temple can be found here Kapila Theertham - Wikipedia

Our final stop was at Kodandaramaswamy Temple.  A Lord Rama temple. Details of the temple can be found here Kodandarama Temple, Tirupati - Wikipedia

The time was now about 3pm.  So, we had lunch at a restaurant. Our driver suggested that he can also take us to visit the Balaji temple and he can wait till our darshan was complete.  The price he quoted seemed to be on the higher side.  We were also tired and were contemplating how to go to Balaji temple. Moreover, his car, Toyota Etios, was quite comfortable for 4 of us to sit in.  We decided to take his offer.  He took us to our Hotel and after about an hour, we left for the Balaji temple.  We entered the line at 7pm and were out by 10pm after visiting Varaha Swamy temple and Balaji temple.  We came back to hotel at about 11pm or so after having dinner at a nearby roadside (bandi) vendor.

Since the next day was a Friday, my wife wanted to visit the Thaayaar temple again to partake in the Suprabatham Seva.  So, we both got up at 2am and after booking an Uber, were at the Tiruchaanur temple by 3am and stood in line.  The gates opened at 3:30am and we participated in the Suprabatham Seva.  We reached back to the hotel by 530am or so and again slept till about 730am.   The day before, our driver had mentioned about 2 other temples in Tirupati. So, I called the driver again and asked him if we can see those 2 temples and the Vakula Mata temple and reach Tirupati station by 2pm. He said yes. After having breakfast and checking out of the hotel, we again started our temple darshan tour. First, we went to the Vakula Mata temple, which is on a hill.  Had a nice darshan here.  Details of the temple can be found here Vakula Matha Temple, Peruru - Tirumala Tirupati Yatra

Next we went to Prasanna Venkateshwara Swamy temple.  Since the temple only opens from 11am, we had to wait for the temple to open. Had a nice darshan here also.  A virtual tour of this temple can be found here Prasanna Venkateswara Swami Temple, Appalayagunta | touritvirtually

Our final stop was at the Parasurameshwara Temple in a place called Gudimallam.  The priest informed that this is the only temple where Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva are placed on a single stone (www.gudimallamtemple.com ).  Brahma being in the bottom, Vishnu being depicted by Parashuram and Shiva being the lingam at the top.  But Wikipedia says something different. More details on the temple, including temple background can be found here Gudimallam Lingam - Wikipedia Makes for an interesting read😊, different from what the temple official site says!

Finally, we reached Tirupati station by 130pm. Had lunch at a nearby hotel and caught the Vande Bharat train back to Hyderabad.

Except at the main Balaji temple, we did not find any crowd at any of the temples.  Had nice darshans at all the temples without someone having to tell us to speed up in line.  I would say that the darshans at all these temples were much better than the darshan at the main one😊!

Cheers till next time😊!!