Alamelumangapuram
Tiruchanur is also called ‘Alamelumangapuram’ located 5 km away from Tirupati, the abode of Goddess Padmavati Devi, the beloved Consort of Lord Venkateswara. It is said that a visit to the temple of Lord Venkateswara is complete only if the pilgrim visits Sri Padmavati Devi temple at Tiruchanur.
Click here for Tiruchanur’s Location on Google Maps
History of Alamelumangapuram
Even before the construction of the Krishna temple, the Sundararaja and the Padmavati temples, there existed at Alamelumangapuram a temple called the Tiruvilankoil. A Tirumantrasalai was established at Alamelumangapuram by the Vaishnavas in the eighth century A.D. The Tiruvilankoil is the earliest of all the temples of Tiruchanur.
An image of Sri Venkateswara resembling the Srivaru of Tirumala was consecrated in the Tiruvilankoil. An inscription dated in the 51st regnal year of King Dantivarman of the Pallava dynasty refers to this temple. It may be surmised that in the beginning of the 9th century, Vengadam Hill was inaccessible and pilgrim traffic dwindled.
The Tiruvilonkoil was built at Tiruchanur at the site where the Alagiyaperumal (Krishna) shrine, the Sundararaja shrine and the Padmavati shrine are now located, for the convenience of the pilgrims. The Tiruvilankoil in due course became so popular that the Srivari Brahmotsavams were celebrated at Tiruchanur until the advent of Ramanuja in the Tirupati region. Separate shrines for Devi began to be built in the famous South Indian temples from the late Chola period onwards.
For some unknown reason, it did not appear in the Tirumala Temple. To overcome this defect, perhaps the Kalyana Venkateswara temple with the God and His Consorts was first erected sometime before 1540 in Mangapuram near Chandragiri and renovated in that year. It may be assumed that this temple did not become popular with the growth of the present converging point of pilgrims at Tirupati.
So Mangapuram had to be transferred elsewhere and it could be only some place nearer Tirupati.
2 Vishnu Temples
A site where there were already two Vishnu temples, viz., those of Alagiya Perumal or Krishna and Sundararaja, was chosen and the temple for Padmavati (Sanskrit for the Tamil Alamelumangai Nacciyar) was built by their side just as the Govindaraja temple was erected some nine centuries ago by the side of the pre-existing Parthasarathi shrine.
Sri Padmavati temple was most probably erected at the beginning of the seventeenth century. No evidence is forthcoming regarding the builder of the huge gopura of Tiruchanur. It may be Matla Kumara Ananta, who built three gopuras in Tirupati, or Krishnadevaraya, who erected an equally lofty gopura in Sri Kalahasti. The only reference to the Goddess of Tiruchanur is to her birth asterism, Uttarashada in the month Kartika when she was taken to the festival, called Panchami Theertham.
These three shrines are found in a south-north row in a single courtyard. The central one is that of Alagiyaperumal and is the oldest. It is also the smallest. Its inscriptions range between 1221 and 1552. The shrine probably came into existence by the beginning of the thirteenth century. It received gifts of cash for services from Saluva Narasimha, Kandadai Ramanuja Aiyangar and a few others.
The Sundararaja shrine to its south is slightly bigger and definitely later. Its few inscriptions provide the dates 1541 and 1547.
The shrine probably came into existence by the beginning of the sixteenth century. The Padmavati shrine lies to the north of the Alagiya Perumal shrine and is the biggest of the three consequent upon the addition of large mandapas in front and frequent renovations. Indiscriminate repairs and renovations affected as the shrine began to gain its importance might have caused the disappearance of whatever inscriptions it had.
The shrine was either freshly built or renovated probably by the beginning of the seventeenth century and the gopura opposite to the Alagiya Perumal shrine and the Padmasarovar might be coeval with it.
Panchami Theertham
The Panchami Theertham festival on the Panchami Thidhi of Karteeka Brahmotsavam attracts thousands of devotees from all over the country. Lord Srinivasa sends silk sarees, turmeric, kumkuma etc as a gift to the Goddess on the Panchami Theertham day.
The Archakas carry these gifts from the Srivari temple and they cover the distance by walk. These gifts are transported to Alamelumangapuram on elephants. Among the Vahanas during Brahmotsavam, Gajavahanam is significant in Tiruchanur to Goddess Padmavati Devi and Panchamitheertham (sacred bath) auspicious
