Thirupati Govindaraja Swami.

Sri Govindaraja Swami

This temple is the biggest temple in Tirupati Town and attracts lakhs of pilgrims. A large number of inscriptions found in this temple and in the Sri Venkateswara Temple at Tirumala help us to trace its history.

The earliest of the records belong to the year 1235 A.D when the Chola King, Raja Raja III was ruling the place. In the year 1239 A.D the queen of Viranarasinga of Yadavaraya made a gift for decoration of the chariot and carrying necessary repairs.

The temple came in for greater importance in 1506 A.D. during the rule of Saluva Dynasty of Vijayanagar and from then onwards different rulers in a different way developed the temple.

The emergence of Govindaraj Swamy has already been discussed in the temple history of Lord Venkateswara at Tirumala.

It is very interesting to note that this is the only idol in India for which no "Abhisekham" pooja is performed since the day of its consecretion as it was made of clay.