Tirumala

Tirumala (Telugu: తిరుమల) is a hill town in the Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh, India. The town is a pilgrimage center for Hindus, with its Sri Venkateswara Temple. Tirumala is dedicated to the Shrimann Narayana, or Maha Vishnu. Sri Rengam, Tirumala and Badrinath are other Archavathara Vishnu temples.

Tirumala Hill is 3,200 feet (980 m) above sea level, and the town covers an area of approximately 10.33 square miles (26.8 km2). In the area are seven peaks from the Seshachalam range, part of Eastern Ghats. The seven peaks represent the hood of Adisesha and are known as Seshadri, Neeladri, Garudadri, Anjanadri, Vrushabadri, Narayanadri and Venkatadri. The temple of Sri Venkateswara is on the seventh peak (Venkatadri).

"Tirumala" is the combination of two words: Tiru (sacred or honorable) and Mala (hill or peak)—"sacred mountain" in the Dravidian languages.

Members of the Chola dynasty were devotees of Lord Venkateswara, improved and endowed the temple.

Ancient literature (dating to the post-Mauryan and early Gupta eras) mentions Tirupati as Aadhi Varaha Kshetra. The Puranas associate the site with Lord Varaha, one of the Dashavatara of Lord Vishnu. The Varaha shrine is locally important, and is said to be older than the main sanctum of Venkateswara. The Ranga Mandapam (to the left of the temple) protected the idol (Sri Ranganatha Swamy of Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple in Trichy) for nearly 60 years during the invasions by Malik Kafur during the 14th century.