Replica of Lord Venkateswara shrine opens for devotees in Hyderabad

A colossal replica of the Lord Venkateswara shrine at Tirumala built in Telangana capital Hyderabad was thrown open to devotees Wednesday. The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam, which governs the over 2000 Lord Venkateswara shrine at Tirumala near here, has built the replica temple at a cost of Rs.20 crore on a 3.5-acre site in the posh Jubilee Hills area in Hyderabad, a temple official told PTI here.

After priests performed special rituals, including Mahakumbabhishekam (consecration) at the crack of dawn, the devotees were allowed to offer prayers at the new shrine. Early in 2014 when Congress was at the helm of affairs in the undivided Andhra Pradesh, the TTD had decided to build a Lord Venkateswara temple in Hyderabad.

In 2017, Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao had made two princely golden ornament offerings, totally weighing about 19 kg and worth about Rs.5 crore, to the presiding deity. The TTD has opened a replica temple of Lord Venkateswara in Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu and proposed to build another one in Amaravathi, the capital of Andhra Pradesh.

(With inputs from agencies.)