Richest Temple of the World

Temple worship is synonymous with eastern world culture. Region spanning from India to Nepal, to Indonesia, to China or Japan are financially as well as architecturally or culturally rich. India within its geography is the world's richest temple. This Hindu temple is Tirumala Venkateswara Temple, which is located on the main Venkatachalam Hill. The hill is a sub-set of seven hills, and this has earned the Lord the name as Lord of Seven Hills.

Yadava dynasty kings were the original builders of the temple. Thereafter subsequent dynasties put in wealth, architecture, expansion schemes and other development works to make it to the current structure. The opulence at the temple site is evident enough to prove of earlier good times, which is continuing making Lord Venkateshwara the richest god in the world.

A prominent feature of the temple is its cosmopolitan place where people from all over the world irrespective of caste, creed or religion throng to have a 'Darshan (visit to Lord's place)'. The temple with highest number of average per day visits is the most visited religious place in the world. Maximum number of visitors is seen on annual revered ritual like Brahmotsavam, which happens in the month of September. Even outside India, a Venkateswara Temple is built by Indians at Pittsburg, USA. The priests working at the temple have been trained at Tirupati in India.

As per Hindu mythological age cycle having four stages, the current and the final period is called Kali-Yuga. Lord Venkateshwara is called the Lord of Kali Yuga. Lord's devotees also call him by other names like Balaji, Srinivasa, Venkateswara and Perumal.

The name Srinivasa has earned a special place in devotee's heart. If the name is broken down into pieces then 'Sri' means 'Sri Lakshmi' and 'Nivasa' means 'Home', which means that the Lord's consort abode is his chest. This is the same as seen on the idol.

The idol has two consorts on either side of the chest, on one side Goddess Sri Lakshmi and on the other Goddess Padmavati. The Lord's image is so engrained in people's mind that many have made it a desktop background so that the Lord is always in front of their eyes. In wee hours of morning devotees chant mantra (hymn) - Om 'Namo Venkateshaya'. Devotees also play recorded morning recital of songs & prayer - 'The Venkateswara Suprabhatam'.

The temple is managed by TTD (Tirupati Tirumala Devasthanam), a trust established in the year 1932 governed under TTD Act of Govt. of State of Andhra Pradesh in India.

Temple daily earnings amount to Rs.75 lakhs or roughly USD 1.5 lakhs. It is a record that a single day offering has been Rs.180 lakhs. The annual income of the temple is estimated to be Rs.700 crores.

The Tirumala Venkateshwara Temple rich with devotees as well as wealth is truly the world's richest temple.