Tirumala-like temple to come up in Amaravati

Amaravati: Modelled along the lines of Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple at Tirumala, the temple at Amaravati would come up on a sprawling 25 acres with the designs keeping in mind the Pallava, Chola, Chalukya and Vijayanagara architecture.

The temple would be built at an estimated cost of Rs 150 crore on five acres in the first phase and would be developed in phases to suit the temple requirement. The temple would strictly adhere to ‘Agama’ and Vastu principles.

The Pallava architecture reflects in Kailasanatha temple and Vaikuntha Perumal temple of Lord Vishnu located at Kanchipuram while the Chalukya architecture rock temple reflects in the Lord Vishnu temple in Badami and Virupaksha temple of Lord Siva in Bijapur. Likewise, the Vijayanagara architecture includes the splendid Hazara Rama and Vittala temples of Hampi.

The upcoming Venkateswara Swamy temple at Amaravati would be drawing inspiration from all these temples. Once this temple is inaugurated, the capital city will have two landmark temples on either side of River Krishna. One will be that of Lord Venkateswara and on the other side Goddess Kanaka Durga.

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who performed the Bhukarshana at Venkatapalem village of Tullur mandal on Thursday in the capital city of Amaravati, has the blessings of both Lord Venkateswara Swamy and Goddess Kanaka Durga.

Kuchipudi dance and Lord Venkateswara Swamy temple at Tirumala are famous around the world, he said and underlined the need for construction of Venkateswara Swamy temples in all capital cities in India and other important cities in the country.

Priests, who had come specially from Tirumala, performed various rituals, including homams before the chief minister ploughed the land where the sanctum sanctorum would be constructed.