TIRUPATI, CHITTOOR

Venkateswara Temple is a landmark Vaishnavite temple situated in the hill town of Tirumala at Tirupati in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh, India. The Temple is dedicated to Lord Sri Venkateswara, an incarnation of Vishnu, who is believed to have appeared here to save mankind from trials and troubles of Kali Yuga. Hence the place has also got the name Kaliyuga Vaikuntham and the Lord here is referred to as Kaliyuga Prathyaksha Daivam. The temple is also known by other names like Tirumala Temple, Tirupati Temple, Tirupati Balaji Temple. Lord Venkateswara is known by many other names: Balaji, Govinda, and Srinivasa.

Tirumala Hills are part of Seshachalam Hills range. The hills are 853 metres (2,799 ft) above sea level. The Hills comprises seven peaks, representing the seven heads of Adisesha. The temple lies on the seventh peak -Venkatadri, on the southern banks of Sri Swami Pushkarini, a holy water tank. Hence the temple is also referred to as “Temple of Seven Hills”. Tirumala town covers about 10.33 sq mi (26.75 km2) in area.

The Temple is constructed in Dravidian architecture and is believed to be constructed over a period of time starting from 300 AD. The Garbagruha (Sanctum Sanctorum) is called AnandaNilayam. The presiding deity, Venkateswara, is in standing posture and faces east in Garbha gruha. The temple follows Vaikhanasa Agama tradition of worship. The temple is one of the eight Vishnu Swayambhu Kshetras and is listed as 106th and the last earthly Divya Desam. The Temple premises had two modern Queue complex buildings to organize the pilgrim rush, Tarigonda Vengamamba Annaprasadam complex for free meals to Pilgrims, hair tonsure buildings and a number of pilgrim lodging sites.

The COVID-19 cases in Chittoor district crossed the 70,000-mark on Saturday, followed by over 700 casualties. In spite of the daily average of cases emerging at 800, the recovery rate at 90% has come as a breather to the officials in the district.

According to the District Medical and Health Officer (DMHO), M. Penchalaiah, though the district is witnessing a high number of cases daily, it was confined to Tirupati, Chittoor municipal corporations, followed by Srikalahasti and Madanapalle municipalities. He observed that the virus spread was rapidly brought under control in the rural areas compared to the urban belt.

Special medical teams

“The recovery rate is close to 90% in the district in recent days, while the number of cases under institutional admission is around 4,000, and about 2,000 under home isolation. Special medical teams at the COVID hospitals are promptly attending to the emergency cases in case of their shifting from home isolation to the hospitals,” Dr. Penchalaiah said.

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The DMHO said that the COVID task force personnel were tracing primary and secondary contacts of the emerging positive cases, besides guiding the infected persons as to whether they should opt for institutional or home isolations. “We suggest and are ensuring that elderly patients, aged 60 or above, are admitted to hospitals. Daily, about 6,000 tests are being conducted in the district,” he said.

Meanwhile, as the spread is restricted to urban areas for now, people in most of the rural belt and municipalities other than Srikalahasti are in a relaxed mood. However, social distancing, wearing of masks and hand sanitising at the business outlets has become a farcry.