About the famous CHILKUR Lord Venkateshwara (Balaji) Temple

November 9, 2003

Chilkur is situated on the banks of Osman Sagar which is 20-30 miles from Hyderabad Outskirts with the beautiful pictures location. Thousands of devotees flock to this place as they feel it is very pious and sacred. This temple is small in size but competing with Tirumala Govinda in popularity. The temple stopped hundi and aarathi collections and the number of visitors to the shine has jumped to an incredible 3.5 lakh in just three months, head priest Dr. M.V. Soundara Rajan says.

The number of visitors on weekdays remained at around 200 and about 2,000 on weekends and festivals. Since the decision, the numbers have increased to nearly 5,000 on weekdays and over 25,000 on weekends and holidays.

The speciality of the temple is that there is no hundi. And there will be few people specially instructing not to deposit money anywhere in the temple precincts. Also there is no special queue for VIP's and all that which happens elsewhere.The temple has lands of its own since olden times and it runs on the income of those lands. Apparently it was formally made operative by Sri Ramanuja swamy of Vishishtadwaita fame. The rules formulated by him in running the temple are still followed, one of them being that Prasadam should never be sold.

BELIEFS:-

It is believed any devotees who goes around the temple 11 times with devotion and love his desire gets fullfill. After the desire is fulfill the devotee goes around the temple for 108 times. So, devotees visiting chilkur are advised not to get carried away by mischief mongres. and never close eyes while taking darshana. and fall flat and do namaskar's. never pay money. The richer and the poor should go in the same line for darshana. There is no special darshanas.

Chilkur has a very old story of its existence. The story in short goes as follows:-

There lived a common man by the name Gunala Madhava Reddy who used to take pilgrim to Thirumala Thirupathi every year. He continued this pilgrim till his old age. Once when he was on his way to Thirupathi due to his old age he fell down unable to walk and lost his senses. In the mean time, he had a dream where Lord Venkateshwara appear and asked him not to come to Thirupathi for darshan as he was present in near by snake pit which was covered by thick bush. As soon as Gunala Madhava Reddy regained his senses he went back and returned with few villagers and started to dig. As soon as their pickle struck the ground they could find blood sticking to the pickle. Seeing the blood the present people started to shiver with fear. So, they stopped digging and Gunala Madhava Reddy brought a pitcher of milk and started pouring on the snake pit. As soon as the mud got

dissolved they emerged a statue of lord sri venkateshwara with allivelu mangamma, and padmavathi. The statue has marks of the pickle on the left hand side of eye brow and chest.

Just beside sri venkateshwara temple their is a temple of lord shiva in the form of linga it is believed that 350 years ago a great saint sat in penance under this pepel tree for lord shiva. when lord shiva appeared and asked him to ask a boon. The saint asked "Lord! I dont want any thing but fulfill the wishes of your devotees who ever comes this place with devotion and love. To this day devotees come to this place to fulfill their desires. After taking lord venkateshwara's darshana they come to take darshana of lord shiva. and this shiv linga is also known as Sundareshwara Swamy.

How to reach......

Road ways:

Hyderabad & Secunderabad are the terminus of a large number of Inter State Bus Services.

Mehdipatnam to Chilkur Balaji Temple:

Buses leave for Chilkur every 10 minutes from the local bus stand at Mehdipatnam in Hyderabad between 5.30 am to 8.00 pm. During rush periods, additional buses are also pressed into service between Mehdipatnam to Chilkur.

Private Autos are also avilable for hire between Mehdipatnam and Chilkur. These can be hired from Begumpet Airport, Nampally Railway Station and the Tourist Reception Centre at Hyderabad.

Railway:

Nearest Railway Station - Nampally in Hyderabad by rail, Nampally is directly connected all over states of the country.

Airway:

Nearest airport - Begumpet (43 km from Chilkur Temple)

http://www.chilkurtemple.com/index.htm

http://www.chilkurtemple.com/balaji.htm

http://www.chilkurtemple.com/siva.htm

http://www.chilkurtemple.com/about.htm

http://www.chilkurtemple.com/history.htm

http://www.chilkurtemple.com/vpooja.htm

http://www.chilkurtemple.com/suprabatham.htm

http://www.chilkurtemple.com/pgallery.htm