The Deity Sri Venugopala Swamy was the patron God of the Karvetinagar rulers whose immeasurable love for the Lord finds its eloquent expression in the hymns composed in a bygone epoch. The Darshan of Sri Venugopala Swamy is an exhilarating spiritual experience.
The Lord, one of the most delightful manifestations of Sriman Narayana, is a veritable Kalpavriksha.
Karveti Nagar / Karvetinagaram
Karvetinagaram is a small town in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh. The town contains a temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu under the name of Venugopala Swamy. The Venugopala swamy temple is located in the south-west side of the present town and faces the east.
Karvetinagaram is situated at a distance of 40 km away from Tirupati and 6 km from Puttur.
Sri Venugopala Swamy Temple
The temple was built in 1719 A.D., by the Karvetinagaram ruler Katari Salvamakaraja Venkata Perumalraju. He was famous among the Karvetinagara kings. He was a great worshipper of Lord Venkateswara and Lord Venugopala. The town Karvetinagaram was also constructed by him in 1717 and the ruler made this town the second capital in 1717.
Before the rule of the Karvetinagaram kings, the Karvetinagara area was under the sway of the Chola kings of Narayanavanam. The Karvetinagara rulers occupied certain parts of North Arcot region and certain parts of the Chittoor region. There were nearly 900 villages under their authority.
The temples of Tirupati, Tiruchanur, Srinivasa Mangapuram, Appalayagunta, Narayanavanam, Nagulapuram, Sholingar, Tiruthani etc., were under the power of these kings. Subsequently, the capital was shifted from Narayanavanam to Karvetinagaram. Therefore, these kings had been popularly recognized as Karvetinagara kings.
A Treasure House
The Karvetinagaram king’s court was adorned with great scholars, poets, musicians and artists. King Venkata Perumal Raju instituted the singing of lyrics on Lord Venugopalaswami by his court poets. The poets composed many kirtanas on Lord Venugopala Swamy. The temple is also associated with great scholars. During the period, a famous poet Sarangapani composed many poems on the Lord.
The Venugopala Swamy temple was not only a place of worship, but also a treasure house of literature, music and dance. The great singer Tyagaiah visited the Venugopala Swamy temple and worshipped the Lord and also enchanted kirtanas. The Karvetinagara king’s royal emblem is Varaha (Boar). The presiding deity of Lord Venugopala was consecrated in the garbhagriha of the temple by King Venkata Perumal Raju.
Karvetinagaram rulers celebrated Brahmotsavams of Tirumala, Tirupati and Tiruchanur temples with great splendour and played significant roles. At present, the Venugopalaswami temple management was taken over by Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD).
Art and Architecture of Sri Venugopala Swamy Temple
The Venugopalaswami temple is erected inside a big enclosure with wide-spread prakara and had five storied mahadwara gopuram on the eastern side. The temple has mandapas and shrines. There are Garuda mandapa, maha mandapa, Snapanamandapa (hall for the ceremonial bath of deities) and ardhamandapa situated inside the prakara.
To the opposite of the main entrance of the temple, there is a shrine for Anjaneya facing the main temple. Infront of the main temple, there is alankara mandapa in the south-eastern side. This mandapa is a big hall with pillars. The front pillars represent Lord Vishnu with four hands and dwarapalakas holding gadhas. One of the pillars in the temple has a sculpture of Vaishnava saint and musician Tallapaka Annamacharya.
The temple contains the garbhagriha, antarala, mukha mandapa and open pillared mahamandapa. The garbhagriha of the main shrine contains the images of Navanitha Krishna and Chakratalwar. The garbhagriha is surmounted by two storied vimana.
Venugopala is one of the common depictions of Lord Krishna playing flute. Erect in tribhanga pose, the image will be that of a boy standing and holding the flute in the two hands and the right leg bent at the knee, sometimes having a cow by his side, which will be shown as licking sole of his right leg. The image will have peculiar head ornaments like the peacock feathers, or sometimes with kireetam (crown).
Venugopala is generally surrounded by cowherds and maids. In this form, he is conceived to be delighting with his enchanting music the hearts of the cowherds, the maids and the cows that are his companions. In this image, the rapture of music is depicted on the face. The Venugopalaswami temple has many Venugopala figures in the company of cows.
Inside the maha mandapa, there is a Garudalwar shrine facing the presiding Deity. This mandapa contains 32 pillars which are carved with the following interesting sculptures-Venugopla, Vishnu, Balakrishna, Kaliyamardana, the incarnation of Kurma, Hanuman and Ganapati. In front of themahamandapa there is a Balipita and Dhvajasthambha.
There are shrines for Lord Kodanda Rama, Lakshmi and Hanuman. The Kodanda Rama shrine houses the deities of Lord Sri Rama, Sita and Lakshmana.
RajaGoupuram
- The rajagopuram of the Venugopalaswami temple was erected by Perumalaraju and it faces the east. The gopuram was built in five storeys.
- The eastern side of the gopura is carved with fine sculptures of Sri Rama, Sita, Garuda, Vishnu, Balakrishna, chaturbhuja Vishnu with his consorts Sridevi and Bhudevi on either side.
- The southern side of the gopura is also carved with fine sculptures of Vishnu seated on Adisesha, Ugra Narasimha, panchamukha Narasimha, panchamukha Anjaneya, Nataraja, Trivikrama and Lakshmi Narasimha.
The second storey of gopura contains interesting images of Pattabhirama, Sri Rama installing Siva Linga, Lakshmi Narayana, Venugopala and Radha Devi. In the temple, one of the mandapa enshrined the images of Alwars, Ramanuja and Utsavamurtis (processional deities) of Venugopalaswami and his consorts Rukmini and Satyabhama.
Fairs and Festivals
Brahmotsavams are being performed grandly in this temple. The Lord is taken in a procession on different vahanas like Sesha, Hamsa, Simha, Kalpavruksha, Garuda, Hanuma, Gaja, Surya, Chandra Prabha and Aswa with great splendour. The Garudotsavam (festival of Garuda) takes a prime place in the Brahmotsavas of the temple.
Garuda is the favourite attendant of Lord Vishnu. Garudotsavam is considered to be the most important in all Vishnu temples as Garuda is the Lord’s principal vahana. The size of Garuda head indicates that the Garuda vahana was colossal. The poet Sarangapani described the grandeur of Garudotsavam in his work. The other annual important festivals like Gokulastami, Dipavali, Kartikadipam, Teppotsavam (float festival), VaikuntaEkadasi, Sankranti etc., are celebrated grandly in the temple.
Skanda Pushkarini
The float festival is celebrated in the pushkarini of the temple. It is situated half a kilometre from the temple and occupies nearly 10 acres of land. The pushkarini is also called Skanda pushkarini. The Pushkarini is said to have been excavated by Kumara Venkata Perumal Raju. Krishnashtami is performed very splendour in this temple.
On that day Kalyanotsavam is celebrated to Lord Venugopalaswami with his consorts Goddess Rukmini and Goddess Satyabhama in an eclat manner and it is an eye feast to the devotees.
Final Word
Thus the Venugopalaswami temple was important and acquired significance as a historic pilgrimage centre from the time of Karvetinagaram kings.
