>Around Tirupati – Chandragiri
> On our ten day Tirupati visit, we visited temples galore, waterfalls, museums, a zoo and even a science centre! The last place we visited was a fort, to round it off, so to speak! I would call the Chandragiri fort more of a palace than a fort, and that too, a rather simple palace, … Read more
>Around Tirupati – Sripuram Golden Temple
> The Sripuram Golden temple at Vellore was one temple I had been hearing a lot about, but had no plans of visiting on my Tirupati trip. For one thing, it wasn’t an ancient temple which draw me much more than anything else, and secondly, I felt it would be a better idea to make … Read more
>Around Tirupati – Kanipakkam
> The temple of Varasiddhi Vinayaka at Kanipakkam is one I have seen grow over the last few years I have been there. When I visited the temple this time, I found myself wishing that I had taken photos of the temple on my earlier visits (which, incidentally were before I began blogging!), for this … Read more
>Around Tirupati – Gudimallam – A Lingam like no other!
> Gudimallam is a small village about 31 Km from Tirupati. A few years back, I had read about an interesting temple there, and was determined to visit it this time. Getting an auto to the temple turned out to be the most difficult thing, for none of the auto chaps we met had heard … Read more
>Around Tirupati – A Temple Tour by TTD Bus
>There is no counting the number of temples in the vicinity of Tirupati, but the TTD maintains some of them, and they also run buses to these temples in an attempt to popularize them. While some are just small temples about which not much information is available, some of them are really beautiful and worth … Read more
>Around Tirupati – Kalahasti
> The Sri Kalahasti temple is as important to Shaivites as the Tirupati temple is to Vaishnavites. It is home to one of the Pancha Bhoota Lingams (lingams related to the five elements), it is a shrine associated with a great saint – Kannappa Nayanar; and is also a parihara sthalam – where special pujas … Read more
>Tirupati Part 11 – Prehistoric Life Park
> I remember the first time I saw an advertisement for the Regional Science Centre at Tirupati; I was stunned that a temple town like Tirupati would have one! On second thoughts I realized that it was probably for the locals, an effect of all the development happening around. As I saw the ads more … Read more
>Tirupati Part 10 – The Zoo
> A visit to Tirupati usually entails a hectic visit to temples and nothing more. This time, however, since we had so much time on our hands, we decided to take Samhith to some place where he could have fun too…… The first of these was the zoo. Yes, Tirupati has a zoo – the … Read more
>Tirupati Part 9 – Local Temples
> Now that we have completed a tour of the Tirumala hills, it is time to come down and tour the foothills. There are several places of interest here, of which we will begin with the local temples. Govindaraja Perumal Temple This is the first temple to be visited on a pilgrimage to Tirumala. As … Read more
>Tirupati Part 8 – Teerthams
> Teerthams are holy bodies of water situated in the vicinity of temples. Pilgrims bathe in them before visiting the temple, and it is water from such sources which is usually used to bathe the deity. Tirumala has many such Teerthams, among which the most famous one is certainly the Swami Pushkarini – the lake … Read more
