Lamp Donations – TTD Temples
Among the Vishnu temples in India, the temple of Sri Venkateswara on the Tirumala hills is the most famous of all. Setting up lamps at various places in the temple is believed to be a highly meritorious act. The lamp also symbolizes Lakshmi, the Goddess of prosperity.
Therefore the gift of a lamp is believed to bestow a long and prosperous life and moksha, upon the donor. Thus, the lamp acquired great significance.
Here in this article, we are trying to describe the Endowment of a lamp by different rulers at times.
Tirumala Tirupati – an important centre for Vaishnavism
Tirumala and Tirupati in Chittoor district have been an illustrious centre for Vaishnavism since medieval times in South India in general and Andhra Pradesh in particular. It became an important centre for Vaishnavism during the Pallava and Chalukya periods.
Though the earliest epigraphical evidence comes from about the middle of the ninth century, there is abundant literary evidence about the existence of Tirumala Tirupati from early times.
Jyoti Swarupa
Lighting lamps (Dipaaraadhana) in the presence of the Lord is auspicious. It is a symbolic representation of knowledge, particularly the spiritual. Vedam means knowledge and the Supreme Lord is identified as Veda Purusha. Thus Lord is known to be Jyoti Swarupa. Knowledge leads from darkness to Light. Light expels the inner and the outer darkness pervading mankind.
Lord Agni
Rigveda has a hymn about a lamp. The origin of setting up lamps during rituals can be traced to very ancient times. Lord Agni was considered to be the principal God and worshipped. The Vedic literature also states the significance of Agni. The great epic Mahabharata also states the importance of the endowment of the lamp.
- T.T.D. epigraphical records show the gifts of gold, money, cattle, land, villages, lamps etc.
- The gifts made by different categories of people like kings, queens, subordinates, ministers, officers etc. are many in number.
- Setting up lamps in temples is believed to be highly a meritorious act.
- Gifting lamps, especially on the occasion of Uttarayana and Dakshinayana Sankramanas, is considered highly meritorious.
The lamp endowments are found in the temples of Tirumala,
- Sri Govindaraja swamy temple at Tirupati,
- Goddess Padmavati temple at Tiruchanur respectively,
- and also in some of the temples at Tirupati and
- neighbouring villages like Yogimallavaram and
- Srinivasa Mangapuram.
Epigraphs before the Vijayanagara period generally record services of lighting a lamp in the presence of the different deities or elsewhere, in the evening or throughout day and night. For this purpose, the donor paid a certain sum of money to the temple treasury to maintain the services.
COW – Purity & Dharma
In a few instances, donors purchased cows and gifted them to the temple. In later times certain donors adopted this latter course, when they arranged for offerings of milk, curd and ghee. Cow is symbol of purity and dharma. Hence, every product of Cow is equally considered to be sacred. Lighting lamps with the ghee of the Cow is more auspicious.
We can observe that ghee alone is being used for all lamps inside the temples.
Donations – History
Donations were made both in cash and kind for lighting lamps in the temples. Many epigraphs record arrangements made for lighting a nityadipam (lighting lamp) before the Lord. The earliest gift of a lamp, comes from the temple of Goddess Padmavati at Tiruchanur, issued in the 51st year of the reign of Pallava king DantiVikramavarman (830 A.D.).
It states that the gift of 30 kalanju of gold for setting up a lamp to be lit before a processional image newly installed in the shrine of Tiruvenkatattu Emperumandigal, was given by one Ulagapperumanar of Solanur in Chola-nadu.
The later inscription whose date is missing, records lamp gift through the payment of a number of sem-pon, made by one Siyakan. It can be taken for granted that Ulagapperumanar and Siyakan might have been royal officials of some state.
The epigraph further states that the village assembly of Tiruchanur purchased a patti of land with gold from the income of which the lamp was to be maintained.
A record of a local ruler Vijayaditya (830- 850 A.D.) of Bana dynasty wherein it is stated that he made arrangements for a perpetual lamp to be lit in the temple of hill-God Tiru Vengadattu Perumanadigal (Lord Venkateswara) attests to the existence of a regular temple.
In the reign of Rastrakuta’s period, some officers also seem to have gifted to the Tirumala temple too. An epigraph from Tirumala temple refers to a gift of a lamp to the yaksha (demi-God) on Tirumala by a servant of Gangamahadevi, queen of Kannaradeva in his 19th regional year.
Brief History
During the succeeding Chola period from the beginning of the 10th century A.D., many lamp gifts were made to the Tirumala temple. Gold was donated for lighting lamps which were generally deposited with the local village assembly.
One of the inscriptions records the deposit of 40 kalanju of gold for maintaining a lamp in the shrine by Kodungoluran of Malai-Nadu, in the 29th reignal year of Parantaka-I.
Another lamp donation was made during the period of the same Chola king in 927 A.D. by somebody, whose name is lost. In the reign of Rajaraja-I, one Arulakki (Rajaraja Muvendavelan) paid 40 kalanju of gold into the temple treasury for the purpose of lighting a lamp.
Another epigraph dated in the reign of Rajendra Chola, mentions a provision made for lamp lighting. Besides that, it gives us some interesting information regarding the state supervision over temples in those times.It was brought to notice by royal officer Koramangala Mudaiyan regarding the default in burning 22 lights by the assembly of Tirumudiyam out of 24 lights agreed to by them.
According to an old stone record, it was known that he ordered to credit the available, 23 pon (gold coins) to the capital fund of Lord Venkateswara’s treasury in Tiruchanur and to send the ghee for the lamps to the Lord’s temple on the Hill.
So that the managers and servants of Tiruvenkatadevar could put up a total number of 24 lights including one camphor light.
*Data Source: Saptagiri Magazine
