THIRUPPATHI PILGRIM PACKAGE Thiruppathi-Kalahasthi-Thiruthani-Kanhipuram-Thirukazhikundram Mahabalipuram-Chidambaram-Kumbhakonam-Thanjavoor- Sreerangam Tour Code No. No. of days Starting Date Charge Per Head (Including Food ) 6Day/6Night Day 01: Starting from Palakkad in Luxury Coach at 10.00 AM Day 02: Early morning Reaches Thiruppathi. Fresh Up, Sree Vekitachalapathi Darshan (Entry Tickets to be Procured before Darshan) N/R THIRUPPATHI Day 03: Morning Journey to Kalahasthi, Govindaraja Temple, Pathala Ganapathi, Padmavathi Temple, Hare Rama Hare Krishna Ashram, Kapileswara Thertham N/R THIRUPPATHI Day 04: Morning Journey to Thiruthani,Thiruthani temple darshan and journey to Kanhipuram, Kanchi Kamakodi Madam, Kanchi Kamakshi Temple, Vaigunta Perimal temple and journey to , Thirukazhikundram Temple Darshan N/R MAHABALIPURAM Day 05: Mahabalipuram, Pondicherry, Chidambaram Darshan/N/R KUMBHAKONAM Day 06: Kumbhakonam, Swami Mala, Thanjavoor, Sreerangam. Return Journey to Palakkad Day 07: Reaches Palakkad *NR – Night Rest Quick Booking Tirupati History EPIC IMPORTANCE The venkatam hill is believed to be a part of the celestial mount meru brought to the earth from vaikuntam by garuda (Lord's vehicle),say the puranas.The Hills are said to be a manifestation of Adi Sesha (the cosmic serpent).The Seven hills of the Tirumala are the said to represent the Seven hoods of Adi Sesha. Many Alvars , Vaishnavacharyas and Saints have praised the Tirumala Hill with great devotion. Tirumala Mambi, a descendent of the great ascetic Narada, spent his whole life in serving the Lord. References to the tirumala also found in several of Puranas. Tirumala is one of the 108 sacred shrines of the Sri Vaishanava tradition.According to the Puranas, Lord Vishnu stayed on the earth for some time in the Avatar of Swetha Varaham and rose out of pushkarini as Swayambhuva. His spouse Lakshmi Devi appeared in Thirucharnur. This Swwtha Varaha Avatharam was installed in the temple situated to the west of Swamy Pushkarni. The great religious leader Ramanujacharya visited this shrine on a pilgrimage and systematised the process of worship in accordance with the SriVaishnava that continues to date. HISTORY The Pallavas of Kanchipuram (9th century AD) ,Cholas of Tanjore (10 century) , Pandyas of mathura and Vijayanagara pradhans (14th & 15th centuries) were committed devotees of Lord Venkateswara. The statues of Sri Krishna Devaraya and his spouse stand in the premises of the temple. After the decline of Vijayanagara Empire, kings from various states like the king of Mysore and Gadwal, worshiped the lord as pilgrims and gifted various ornaments and valuables to the temple. In 1933 the Madras government appointed a Commission to Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam through a special statutory authority to run the administration of the temple. In 1951 another Hindu Religious and endowment Act was made which felicitated the appointment of an executive officer and Board of trustees and they run the administration. The executive officers of this institution maintaining the temple administration. Lord Krishna decided to take his incarnation, he relaxed under a tree. At that time, the hunter, Jara, in his previous life, hit the lord with the arrow. Hunter apologized and then the Lord has enlightened in his previous life. In his previous life, Jara was Vali whom Lord Rama killed and thus the account has now been settlement. At that time, Lord Brahma, Shiva and other Devas came to offer prayers to the Lord and suddenly Lord disappeared to Vaikuntam. On the way, when Jyoti reached Suryamandalam, to everyone’s surprise it became an idol and landed at Tirumala. The Lord said that he wanted to protect his devotees and decided to reveal himself in this world until the end of Kali Yuga. The Lord had Swayambhoo (self created) his idol. The Lord also expressed a wish that He choose Tirupati Tirumala as a place of residence because the place was located at middle of earth and the major planets, and hence He could have easy access to humans and Devas alike. Devas, headed by Lord Brahma, acknow;edged this thus enabling the Lord’s devotees to offer prayers to Him on a daily basis. Consequently, every night, Pancha paathrams are filled with pure water, and the temple doors are closed. The Devas performed to Perumal Thiruvaaradhanai each day (early morning before Suprabhatam). This Theertham offered to the faithful who participate in Suprabhata Sevai. No Satari made during Suprabhata Seva. When all the wise men were carried out in yaagam Naimisaranyam, Rishi Narada question of who offered the yaagam. It was decided that the best of the Trinity, ie Brahma, Vishnu or Shiva should be directed to yaagam. Consequently, Rishi Brighu undertook the task of finding the best among the Trintiies. Rishi Brighu Satyalokam, Brahma for the first time and not pay attention to him, he went to Mount Kailash, the residence of Lord Shiva. Brighu Rishi was mad because he was neglected by the Lord Shiva. The rishi was stormed Vaikuntam, which saw Lord Vishnu in Sayana Thirukolam and Goddess Mahalakshmi urged his holy feet. The angry rishi immediately kicked the Lord’s heart to free his temple. Vishnu is known for compassion, he got up, paid respect, Rishi and asked him to apologize. Vishnu has gone too far to say that kicking the chest Brighu Rishi is suffering from pain and began to press the foot of Rishi. In the process, Vishnu pressing Rishi third eye, which was his leg. Rishi felt humiliated by the type of activities of the Lord and decided that was the best of the god Vishnu worship Kali Yugam and came back and gave yaagasaala decision.Goddess Mahalakshmi felt offended because he kicked the heart Perumal, who was his place and could not continue out of anger leave the Vaikuntam. The time Thayar left Vaikuntam, the whole place engulfed in darkness and also left Perumal left from Vaikuntam looking for Thayar. In due course, reached Tirumala Hills Perumal and become fascinated by the quiet and pleasant, he continued to live there. Formed an ant hill where he sat. Seeing the situation Perumal,Thayar sent Brahma and Shiva to satisfy his hunger. Brahma and Shiva turned to the cow and calf and Goddess Parvathi disguised as ordinary lady approached Thondaimandalam rule (in and around Tirumala) and sold the cows to the king. Even if the cows were removed to watch this special cow used to go near the ant hill and empty her udder. Thus, she met hunger Perumal giving milk. ROLE VAKULAMATHA Perumal at the wedding: and Yasodha yugam Dwapara Vakula Maath Srinivasa appeared injured and took them home and took care of him. It ‘happened that one day he saw Padmavathy Thayar who was princess of the kingdom. IN Ramavataaram was excited when Sita Devi carried away by Ravana, Vedavathi, a woman who had cursed Ravana that he would meet with destruction because of his disguise, Sita Devi, went to Lanka and experienced all the suffering. As a thank you for this help, the Lord Rama assured him that he would marry her in Kali Yugam. This daughter Vedavati, Akasa Raja Perumal darsanam is just one, you can experience the happiest moment of calm and the Lord’s presence can be felt by all. The stone steps (PADI), near garbagriham is known as “Padi Kulasekhara” because Azhwar had wanted to stay as a solid object before the Lord “PADIYAAYI KIDANDHU UNN PAVAZHA KAANBENEY Vaai” KALAHASTHI LOCATION OF THE TEMPLE: Sri Kalahasthi is an important temple dedicated to Lord Shiva. It is situated in Chittoor district of Andra Pradesh. The Sivalingam is said to be a 'Vayu lingam' representing one of the five elements, air, (vayu-air) and is one of the Panchabootha sthala of Lord Shiva. HISTORY OF THE TEMPLE: A spider, an elephant and a snake were living in the vicinity of the temple. All three were devotees of Lord Shiva. The spider wove beautiful objects with its silk like web and offered them to the Lord in prayer, the elephant brought flowers and water and washed the idol and offered the flowers, while the snake brought precious stones from underground and adorned the idol with them. The elephant seeing these precious stones adorning the Lord cleared them away and after washing the Lord decorated Him with flowers and leaves. From this ensued an altercation between the elephant and the snake. The snake bit the elephant and the elephant trampled the snake. The spider got caught in the middle of this brawl and all three died. Because of the devotion with which each one of them had spent their days worshipping, the Lord made these three souls to merge in Him and took the name Sri-Kala-Hasthi which denotes the conjoining of the spider (Sri), the snake (Kala), and the elephant (Hasthi) thus becoming Sri Kalahatheeswar. DIVINESS OF THE TEMPLE:Kannappan was a hunter but an ardent devotee of Lord Shiva. He never failed to perform his daily worship. He brought water from the river in his mouth and 'bathed' the image of the Lord by emptying his mouth on the lingam. Then he would chew bits of meat to ascertain its suitability and offer it to his deity. He would only proffer the choicest pieces of meat. One day he saw a yellowish discharge from the left eye of the image. He in his deep devotion wanted to cure the defect in the eye of his Lord. So he gouged out his eye from its socket and put it on top of the eye of the idol. He then noticed the same discharge from the other eye. He then decided to offer his other eye too, to the Lord. He realized that he would not be able to see once he had pulled out his other eye.