To help Lord Vishnu find his consort, Shiva and Brahma incarnated themselves as a cow and a calf, respectively, in the Chola kingdom. The cow and calf, every day, used to provide their milk in the anthill to lessen the thirst of Vishnu.
One day cowherd caught the act; thus, he tried to beat the cow. For his unknown mistake, Venkateshwara cursed the Chola king to become a Demon as per dharma. The king begged for mercy, for which Srinivasa told him that in his second birth as Akasa Raja, Lord would marry his daughter, Padmavati.
As the years passed and in their second birth, Padmavati and Srinivasa finally met and married. For marriage, Srinivasa took a huge loan from Lord Kuber and promised to repay the loan before the end of Kaliyuga. This is why the lord is still repaying the loan taken from Kubera and will still pay till the end of kali yuga. Thus, it is also believed that Lord Vishnu has manifested himself in the temple of Tirumala Venkateswara Temple during this Kali age to guide and direct his devotees towards salvation.
According to some scriptures, Srinivasa actually turned himself into a stone form after Laxmi found out that he married another woman named Padmavathi Alamelu Manga. In this temple, unlike other Vishnu temples, we find no minor shrines or idols of Vaishnava saints. Apart from the Lord Venkateswara temple, the other important places at Tirumala and Swami pushkarini, Papavinasam and Akasaganga waterfalls, Varahaswamy temple, and Shila Toranam a very ancient rock formation supposed to be over 10, years old.
Legend of Lord Venkateswara. Once some rishis headed by Kasyapa began to perform a sacrifice on the banks of the Ganges. Sage Narada visited them and asked them why they were performing the sacrifice and who would be pleased by it. Not being able to answer the question, the rishis approached Sage Bhrigu. To reach a solution after a direct ascertainment of reality, Sage Bhrigu first went to Satyaloka, the abode of Lord Brahma.
At Satyaloka, he found Lord Brahma, reciting the four Vedas in praise of Lord Narayana, with each of his four heads, and attended upon by Saraswati. Lord Brahma did not take notice of Bhrigu offering obeisance.
At Kailasa, Bhrigu found Lord Siva spending his time pleasantly with Parvati and not noticing his presence. Parvati drew the attention of Siva to the presence of the sage.
Lord Siva was furious at Bhrigu's intrusion and tried to destroy him. The sage cursed Lord Siva and left for Vaikuntam. Finding that Lord Vishnu also did not notice him, the sage was infuriated and kicked the Lord on His chest, the place where Mahalakshmi resides.
At once, Lord Vishnu hastened to apologise to the angry sage and pressed his feet to allay the pain caused to Bhrigu's leg. In doing so the Lord removed the eye in the foot of the sage, stripping of his special powers. Thereupon, the sage concluded that Lord Vishnu was the most supreme of the trimurthis and told the rishis the same. Sri Mahalakshmi was angered by the action of her Lord in apologising to Bhrigu who committed an offence.
Out of anger and anguish she left Vaikuntha and resided in Karavirapur now known as Kolhapur. After the departure of Mahalakshmi, a forlorn Lord Vishnu left Vaikuntam and took abode in an ant-hill under a tamarind tree, beside a pushkarini on the Venkata Hill, meditating for the return of Lakshmi, without food or sleep. This was the place where Lord took the form of Varaha to rescue Mother Earth form the deep ocean. Taking pity on Lord Vishnu, Brahma and Maheshwara decided to assume the forms of a cow and its calf to serve Him.
Surya, the Sun God informed Mahalakshmi of this and requested her to assume the form of a cowherdess and sell the cow and calf to the king of the Chola country. The king of the Chola country bought the cow and its calf and sent them to graze on the Venkata Hill along with his herd of cattle. Discovering Lord Vishnu on the ant-hill, the cow provided its milk, and thus fed the Lord.
Meanwhile, at the palace, the cow was not yielding any milk, for which the Chola Queen chastised the cowherd severely. To find out the cause of lack of milk, the cowherd followed the cow, hid himself behind a bush and discovered the cow emptying her udder over the ant-hill.
Incensed over the conduct of the cow, the cowherd aimed a blow with his axe on the head of the cow. However, Lord Vishnu rose from the ant-hill to receive the blow and save the cow. When the cowherd saw the Lord bleed at the blow of his axe, he fell down and died of shock.
The cow returned, bellowing in fright and with blood stains all over her body, to the Chola King. To find out the cause of the cow's terror, the King followed her to the scene of the incident. The King found the cowherd lying dead on the ground near the ant-hill. While he stood wondering how it had happened, Lord Vishnu rose from the ant-hill and cursed the King saying that he would become an Asura because of the fault of his servant.
The King pleaded innocence, and the Lord blessed him by saying that he will be reborn as Akasa Raja and that the curse would end when the Lord will be adorned with a crown presented by Akasa Raja at the time of His marriage with Padmavati. The Lord entered an anthill and started meditating.
Lord Shiva and Brahma came there as a cow and calf in search of the Lord. Shiva in the form of the cow poured its milk inside the anthill to feed the Lord on a daily basis. As per the divine plan, both Venkateshwara and Padmavati met each other and the gods approached the king to give his daughter in marriage to the Lord. The unprecedented marriage The lord received a huge sum of money from Kuber, the god of wealth to conduct a very grand marriage ceremony which was unprecedented.
Following the marriage, the Lord stayed on the hills of Tirumala and a magnificent temple rose in the place. From then onwards, it is said the Lord is repaying the loan He received from Kuber in bits and pieces. It is said that the devotees make their contributions to help the Lord make his payments in a timely manner.
Hair donation at the Tirupati Balaji temple It is an age old practice to donate their hair at the temple. To do this people of all ages make their prayers and shave their heads near the temple premises before having a darshan of the Lord.
The temple management has built expansive facilities to help the people make their hair donations to the Lord. Thus, it is believed that Lord Vishnu has manifested Himself in this temple during this Kali age to guide and direct His devotees towards salvation.
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