[Music]
[Applause]
a beautiful
and a sublime place lies near the
foothills of the secret tirumala hills
where srinivasa emerged as a swayambu
the self-manifested form there are two
main routes to reach the hilltop shrine
of tirumala by walk
one being the alipiri root which is
around 12 kilometers
and the other one being the srivari
metro route
which is around 5 kilometers
one could reach thirumala shrine in a
short span by taking the comparatively
shorter route of srivari metoo
yet a majority of the devotees prefer
the longer one
that is the alipiri route
why do devotees prefer the alipiri root
over srivari met to root
we started thinking about this and we
have known
several fascinating facts about alipiri
[Music]
let us first know from where and how the
name alipiri had originated
earlier this region had a high tamil
speaking population
it is said that they used to refer to
this place
which lies on the foothills of the
tirumala hills as adibaram
while beginning their journey from
alipiri to tirumala
they used to worship the first step and
would break open
a coconut as an offering and only then
they would proceed towards the hilltop
shrine of tirumala
they started referring to the first step
which they worshipped
as adipidi it is said that this word
adipidi
over the centuries became alipiri
it is also said that in the alipiri
region there used to be a sacred
and a huge tamarind tree in the
vaishnava tradition
tamarind trees are highly revered and
venerated
in tirumala srinivasa emerged under a
tamarind tree
nam alvar a great vaishnava poet saint
spent several years in meditation inside
the trunk of a tamarind tree
and attained enlightenment in tamil
tamarind tree is called as pulimiram and
this region came to be known as
adipoli and over the decades it became
alipiri
on reaching alipiri one could see a huge
and a magnificent statue of garudadeva
this mesmerizing statue will leave you
spellbound for a moment or so
there's an interesting reason behind the
construction of this statue of garuda
deva
and the statue of anjaneya swamy in the
year
1979 enroute tirumala near the seventh
milestone
a gruesome murder of a woman took place
back then pvrk prasad was working as the
ttd executive officer
after reaching the spot where the murder
took place
he was utterly shocked to look at the
crime scene and was deeply saddened
he wanted to remove the memory of this
dreary incident from the minds of the
devotees
so from then on he started walking
through the alipiri path along with his
family
to reach tirumala and to encourage other
devotees to choose the alipiri footsteps
route
he started noticing several problems
which the devotees faced during their
journey
to protect the devotees from the
scorching summer sun and the monsoon
rains
he made arrangements for building a
shelter roof along the route
a deed park was also established to make
the devotees happy
at regular intervals speakers were
installed and devotional songs of balaji
were played
due to these facilities and improvements
the number of devotees choosing the
footsteps path
kept on increasing as the days passed by
but the heart-wrenching memory of the
unfortunate murder which took place near
the seventh milestone
wasn't completely erased from pvrk
prasad's memory
later one day while pbrk prasad was
visiting his
uncle's house at kakinada along with his
family
near padhapuram region he happens to see
a beautiful 12 feet high statue of shri
anjani swamy after enquiring about who
constructed it
he learns that togu lakshmana swami was
the one
who sculpted that statue later he meets
the sculptor and on requesting him to
create a similar statue
the sculptor happily obliges so
to remove fear from the devotees minds
and to instill hope
this beautiful statue of badi anjaniya
swami was built near the alipiri root
a very beautiful statue of garudadeva
with his hands folded in a namaskara
pose
was also built there when one sees this
statue
it seems as if garuda is heartily
welcoming the devotees to visit tirumala
the devotees are able to admire these
exquisite statues in alipiri
due to the great efforts made by tohu
lakshmana swamy
and pbr ke prasad another interesting
fact about
alipiri sri ramanujacharya a highly
revered vaishnava saint
didn't visit tirumala for a very long
time
he didn't want to step his feet on the
sacred tirumala hills
the abode of sri benkateshwara swamy
for around a year ramanujacharya stayed
in the shri govinda rajaswamy temple
which is two miles away from alipiri
from there
he used to visit alipiri every day and
would offer his prayers to shri
benkateshwara swami
from alipiri itself it is said that the
devotees who couldn't visit tirumala
who couldn't walk the uphill steps used
to take
a dip in the waters of the kapila
tirtham and would worship srinivasa near
alipiri many devotees believe that
having the darshan of venkateshwara
swami near alipiri
is almost equivalent to having the
darshan of tirumala venkateshwara swamy
even today many people of tirupati visit
alipiri
at least once in a week and worship
srinivasa
one must not wear footwear while
climbing the steps
as this is a very sacred hill where
srinivasa emerged as a swayambu
devotees believe that before beginning
the journey uphill
laying down in a shashtang namaskar
posture is very beneficial
while going through the alipiri route
one can visit the following
serene and stunning places they are
lakshmi narasimha swami temple
shri vinay kaswami temple srivari padala
mandapam
a hundred year old pushkarini that is a
temple pond
deer park akkagarlu temple mokali
mountain
basha karula sannedi among others
apart from these wonderful places one
can witness the overwhelming beauty of
nature
as one walks through the pristine seven
hills of tirumala
and reach the divine thirumala shrine
[Music]
do
[Music]
you