Ancient History Of Tirumala :
There is ample literary and epigraph testimony to the antiquity of the temple of Lord Sri Venkateswara. Sri Venkatachala Mahatyam is the most accepted legend with respect to Tirumala and provides the history of the temple across the various Yugas. The temple has its origin from various yugas which we discuss in our coming post “Origin of Tirumala Temple”.
Thondaiman, a Pallava king (capital: Mahabalipuram, just south of modern day Chennai), is believed to have first built the temple after visualizing Lord Vishnu in his dream. He built the Gopuram and the Prakhara, and arranged for regular prayers to be conducted in the temple.
The Sangam Literature of Tamil such as that of Silapadikaram and Satanar Manimekali dated between 500BC and 300AD, mentions Thiruvengadam (now named Tirupati) as the northernmost frontier of the Tamil kingdoms. The site was actually established during the 5th century A.D., and the Alvars (Vaishnava saints) belonging to the Bhakti movement in Tamilnadu sung in praise of Venkateswara. Its significance in Southern Vaishnavite tradition was at the time next only to that of Srirangam.
The Idol of Lord Srinivasa in Tirumala was self-manifested. He wasn’t carved by any sculptor, human or divine. Lord himself chose this most sacred place in the universe to bless all of us from the miseries of Kaliyuga. Discovery of the deity Lord Venkateswara is an act of divine providence. It is believed that during the period of 10th Century A.D. to 12th Century A.D., the Lord was standing in the open sky for hundreds and thousands of years in the jungles of Venkatachala hills. A huge ant-hill was formed by the ants all over the Idol of Lord Venkateswara to protect the Lord from winds and rains. Being a hilly area with dense forests, it attracted only a few pedestrians to that place in those days.
One day a tribal man (erukodu) reached the place near the anthill in the process of his hunt. He was waiting for his prey; he heard a voice from the ant-hill craving for food and water. Astonished tribal hunter poured in some milk he had with him at the ant-hill. He again reached the anthill-next day to observe whether the incident repeats next day too. This time he heard an Akasa Vani (a divine voice from heavens) to feed the ants every day and he will be benefited all his life. He therefore, started pouring milk at the ant-hill to feed them every day. But one day, the ant-hill collapsed and a magnificent deity of Lord Venkateswara uncovered from it. Lucky tribal man couldn't believe his eyes to have a darshan of the Almighty. The tribal man immediately rushed to the tribal king and informed the matter. All the tribal people reached the spot and offered prayers assuming the deity as Lord Siva as the tribal people usually worship Lord Siva as their main deity. Gradually the emergence of the deity from the ant-hill was spread all over and many devotees started to visit the deity. Shaiviks (followers of Lord Siva) worshipped the deity as Lord Siva, Vaishnaviks (followers of Lord Vishnu) worshipped the deity as Lord Maha Vishnu and a few north Indians worshipped the deity as shakti (a Goddess called Balaji) and the Buddhists worshipped as Gautham Buddha for many years.
All these arguments were put to rest by Sri Ramanujacharya a great saint and philosopher of those times, who confirmed the Idol was none other than the Lord Sri Maha Vishnu himself.