The Tirupati Balaji temple in Kurukshetra, set to open Sunday, is the temple trust’s biggest undertaking in north India.
Kurukshetra: For the lakhs of Hindu devotees from north India who can’t find the time, energy, or money to make their way to the plush Tirupati temple in Andhra Pradesh, there’s finally some good news — a franchise of the temple is opening in Haryana’s Kurukshetra.
The Shri Venkateshwara Tirupati Balaji temple, near Brahma Sarovar in Kurukshetra, is set to be inaugurated Sunday, with Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar expected to attend the opening ceremony.
Spread over 5.52 acres of land, and costing around Rs 35 crore to build, the Tirupati Balaji temple in Kurukshetra is Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam’s (TTD) biggest undertaking north of the Vindhyas.
The TTD is an independent trust which manages the richest temple in India.
The Kurukshetra Development Board (KDB) had allotted land to TTD in January 2012. It took over five years, work by thousands of contractual labourers, and 1,500 tonnes of graphite brought from Tamil Nadu to complete the temple’s miniature replica in Haryana’s holy city.
The Tirupati franchise
Between 50,000 and 100,000 pilgrims visit the Tirupati temple in the southern state daily. On special occasions and festivals, like the annual Brahmotsavam, the number can rise up to over 500,000, making it one of the most-visited holy places in the world, and the TTD one of the richest religious trusts.
With one temple already built in New Delhi, and plans to expand to Lucknow, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Bhubaneshwar, Kolkata, the trust’s agenda is to “provide the same services you get in Tirupati to everyone in the country,” said V. Suresh, senior assistant at the TTD Tirupati Venkateswara Swamy Balaji Temple in Delhi.
“Whoever is unable to go to Tirupati, they can see in their place only,” he added.
In 2016, the TTD projected estimated revenue of Rs 2,678.07 crore. For perspective, the temple trust reportedly makes Rs 150 crore through the sale of human hair alone, with an addition Rs 175 crore of revenue coming from the sale of Prasadams.
As of now, TTD has plans to construct Tirupati temples in every city with more than a 10 lakh population.
Red carpet opening
With the grand opening of the temple merely two days away, the managing authorities, both from the TTD and the KDB, are overseeing a four-day long ‘Prana Pratistha’ or idol installation ceremony from 28 June onwards.
Over 70 priests have arrived in Kurukshetra from the main Andhra temple to perform rituals inviting Lord Vishnu and his wives to be resident guests. The idol’s eyes, thus far covered by yellow strips of cloth, will also be unveiled for the first time.
While some priests were already at the premises late Thursday afternoon, the rest were waiting at nearby hotels for head priest Rama Swamy to arrive at 6 pm and begin the prayers.
Three separate temples have been built — one each for Vishnu’s two wives ‘Bhudevi’ and ‘Sridevi,’ while Vishnu’s idol is placed in the inner sanctum sanctorum of the third one.
Guest houses, toilets, and lodging for workers at staff quarters are also currently under construction at the posterior of the premises, and set to be complete in another six months, said Suresh.
Authenticity
The temple trust has made significant efforts to ensure that the authenticity of the original Tirupati (Tirumala) has been maintained. Over 1,500 tonne of hard graphite has been especially brought from the south, with TTD’s superintending engineer Sudhakar Rao overseeing that standards meet the trust’s expectations.
“We are not making any replica, that (Tirupati) is different. The Kurukshetra temple is a massive granite structure that’s quite uncommon in north India. Usually these kinds of structures are only found in south India. This is one of the biggest temples built by TTD outside south India,” Rao told ThePrint.
Why Kurukshetra
In 2012, when plans for the temple were announced by the then Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government in Haryana, the former chief minister had said he planned to develop Kurukshetra as a spiritual and tourist centre of international standing.
Also known as Dharmakshetra, or ‘Holy Place,’ Kurukshetra is a significant site for Hindus owing to the epic battle of Mahabharata, where Lord Krishna preached the Bhagwad Gita to Arjuna.
“There was no purer place in north India to build this temple, that’s why it was chosen as the site,” Prem Chand, TTD’s special officer of the Tirupati Balaji temple, told ThePrint.
Chand said the TTD decided to expand Tirupati for “all the pilgrims that would make the journey to Tirupati.” He said with over 15-20 lakh people flooding to Kurukshetra during Gita Jayanti and at the time of a solar eclipse, the presence of the temple is only going to strengthen the city’s place on India’s holy map.
Comparing with McD shows the understanding level of the author.
Good that Lord balajis temples are to made in North India cities. That the trust says they are pracharaks of Hindu Dharma why can’t they simultaneously open gosalas for the shelteess cattle alongside these new temples. We asked them so many times they refused. Look at condition of bulls and calves on roads in North India. Can TTD not keep some cattle in their huge premises and give them shelter,right to live, food water and freedom from being slaughtered, drinking drain water,garbage dumps,being smuggled in trucks, eating plastic,a gruesome life and horrible death. Surely Lord Balaji who is known as govinda can never refuse.