From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Venkateshwara (Sanskrit वॆन्कटॆष्वरा), also called Venkatachalapathy, is a Hindu God believed to be a form of the Hindu Deity Vishnu.

Venkateshwara has His holy abode in the Venkatam hills (the hills are more often referred to as ThiruVenkatam) in Tirupathi. Thus, the main temple of Venkateshwara is the Tirupathi Venkateshwara Temple The Tirumala temple, where He is the presiding deity, is believed to be the richest of all the Hindu temples in the world. The temple is in southern India Andhra Pradesh in Chittoor district. It is around 120 km from Chennai, TamilNadu. The presence of seven hills influenced alternate names for the deity: Edu kondala vadu in Telugu and as Elumalaiyan in Tamil both of which mean "Lord of the Seven Hills".

He is also known as Maal, ThiruMaal, Manivannan, Balaji (though this is a more recent name), Srinivasa, Venkatesa, Venkatanatha, Thiruvengadam Udaiyaan, Tiruvengadattaan and by many other names. He is also worshiped with the name Tirupati Thimmappa all over Karnataka by traditionally Shiva-worshipping communities.

There are many famous temples dedicated primarily to Sri Lord Venkateswara that are outside of India. These include those in Nairobi, Kenya; Sydney (Helensburgh), Melbourne (Carrum Downs) Australia; Singapore; Pittsburgh (Penn Hills), Pennsylvania; Malibu (Calabasas), California; Atlanta (Riverdale), Georgia; Chicago (Aurora), Illinois; and Bridgewater, New Jersey.

The Shri Venkateswara (Balaji) Temple in Tividale, UK, consecrated in August 2006, claims to be the largest Hindu temple in Europe. This list is a partial list, but these are the major ones outside of India. The Venkateswara Swami Temple of Greater Chicago, Aurora, IL houses other hindu deities such as Shiva, Umamaheswari(Parvathi), Pillayar, Murugan, Hanuman, Ayyappan.

There are many temples where Sri Lord Venkateswara graces His devotees though He may not be the presiding deity. Based on the pact that Venkateswara agreed upon with Lord Kubera, monetary donations know no limit at temples where a statue of Venkateswara can be found.

• Hindu deities
• List of Hindu deities
• Tirumala Brahmotsavalu

• Official Tirumala Homepage
• Balaji Web Page
• Legends of Sri Venkateshwara and news of the Tirumala Tirupati Devastanams in Telugu & English
• Sri Venkateswara Swami Temple of Greater Chicago, Aurora, IL
• photos of the lord
• Weekly podcast on Vedic Chanting and Vedic Mythology
• Sri Venkateswara Temple, Pittsburgh

Hinduism | Hindu mythology | Indian epic poetry
Female Deities: Saraswati | Mariamman | Lakshmi | Dakshayani | Gayatri | Parvati | Durga | Shakti | Kali | Sita | Devi | Radha | Mahavidya | more...
Male Deities: Brahma | Vishnu | Shiva | Rama | Krishna | Ganesha | Murugan | Hanuman | Ayyanar | Indra | Surya | more...
Texts: Vedas | Upanishads | Puranas | Ramayana | Mahabharata | Rigveda
This box: view • talk • edit