When you imagine of Tirupati, the photo of pilgrims in white robes strolling barefoot, with saffron observing their foreheads, heading to one of the several temples or WATS comes to mind. In fact, Tirupati is a pilgrimmage center for religious searchers with a large number of south Indian temples located here. Despite the fact that it is located in Andhra Pradesh, it is generally part of the package in south Indian tours that include Tamil Nadu tourism. This is because the most famous Tirupati temple was initially part of the Madras Presidency and only recently is under the authority of the Andhra state. It is exciting because furthermore Telugu, Tamil is also spoken in Tirupati. Tirupati is a city that lies on the plains of the Tirumala Hills, which have the variation of being called the world’s 2nd oldest rock mountains. In Tamil, the word ‘tiru’ means holy and ‘mala’ means mountains, which describes its identity.

Most of Tirupati’s tourist is linked to its temples. Tirupati is home to Venkateswara Swami Temple which is devoted to Lord Venkateswara, generally known as Lord Vishnu. It is also recognized as the Balaji temple since his other titles are Balaji, Govind and Srinivas. It is situated just outdoors of Tirupati in the of hill town of Tirumala, several 100 feet above sea level. This temple goes down in historical past as one with the most visitors in the world, upto 1, 00, 00 daily and 35 million on an annual basis. This temple is so tremendous in significance that there is a board of trustees to handle all the donated funds that come in on a daily basis. If you want a glimpse of the main deity’s idol head to the Ananda Nilaya Divya Vimana.

As you walk via the streets of Tirupati, you will hear songs sung to Lord Venkateswara. The most essential festival is Brahmotsavam, for a week in September devoted to Vishnu. There are various other temples in and around Tirupati like the ISKON temple for Lord Krishna and the Hanuman temple. If you need a break from all the prayer pellets, then head to the zoological park called, you guessed it, the Sri Venkateswara Zoological Park! On the other side of Tirupati’s holy tour attractions, it advertises itself as a zoo ‘with a mythological theme’! So all the animals and plants found there are described in the epics like The Ramayana and The Mahabharata. There are estimates from the Bhagvad Gita and enclosures are named after the Hindu gods. The best part is the fact that the animals and given free rein to roam in the vast enclosures, so there is no cruelty induced with cramped cages.