Sri Venkateswara Museum – Tirumala
TTD Museum / Sri Venkateswara Museum was inaugurated on December 26th, 1980 in Thousand Pillars Mandapam by Dr Neelam Sanjeev Reddy, the president of India. Later it was shifted to a newly constructed building with architectural elements beside Narayanagiri Gardens on 27th September 1999 and was opened by Chief Minister of A.P Sri Nara Chandra Babu Naidu Garu.
The museum contains approximately a thousand objects of Indian culture and heritage.
With elegant features, the sculpture of Vishnu in the form of sudarsana moorthy is on display at the museum entrance. He represented all the weapons in his right and left arms used for the destruction of an enemy. There is a reference to sudarsana moorthy in Mahabharata, Bhagavatha, Ramayana and in Itihasas. It belongs to the 16th-century architectural features.
The museum widely has three floors. The ground floor is totally on display of the objects Photographs, Sculptures, Bronze idols, Wood Cravings and Musical Instruments in chronological order.
The first floor has collections of Paintings, Vahanams, Coins, and other miscellaneous items of Annamayya Bhandagaram, Prasadam carrying vessels, Pooja Samagri, Asanams etc. relating to the temple culture and tradition.
TTD Museum – Photographic Section
The photos of all the sevas performed to Lord Venkateswara are classified into daily, weekly, fortnightly, monthly, and yearly and some of the sevas are performed following the god’s thidhi and nakshatra.
The major festivals Brahmotsavam, Vaikunta Ekadasi and Rathasapthami would be celebrated yearly and also the photographs of Vaggeyakara’s who extolled Lord Venkateswara in their sankeerthanas have been on display.
The photos of Silathoranam, Narayanapadam, and Sacred Thirthas are exhibited.
TTD Museum – Sculptures Gallery
In this category, a collection of stone sculptures of historical personalities relating to the stories of Ramayanam, Bhagavatham and mythology. The gallery has some of the rarest and most admirable sculptures in the Pallava, Chola, and Vijayanagara periods.
The highly decorative 16th-century Vijayanagara. sculptures of Bhuvaraha, Trivikrama are of superb sculptural quality in the gallery and the other images of Valmiki Ramayana-Rama abducting Seetha, Trimurthy are particularly noteworthy in their craftsmanship and expression.
TTD Museum – Bronze Section
The art of Bronze casting objects reveals the high standard of technical skill of artisans in the field of metallurgy in ancient India. This section contains bronze objects of Alwars, Bhuvaraha, Nataraja belonged to the 16th century standards for their remarkable quality of the art form.
The images of Hindu Gods, Goddess es – Umamaheswara, Alinganamoorthy, Chandra Sekhara, Kaliyakrishna, Bala Krishna and Nritya gopala are unique creations having artistic vision and technical knowledge.
TTD Museum – Wood Carvings
These are some of the oldest crafts in the world. Prehistoric people used to make decorative handles for their tools and weapons. The Hindu temples were decorated with doors, ceilings and various fittings carved in teak and other woods with patterns of extreme richness and minute elaboration.
This section contains the exquisite beauty of carving figures belonging to mythological stories i.e. Gajendra Moksham, Hiranyakasyapa Vadha, Lakshmi Narasimha, Govardhanagiridhari etc. are the masterpieces on display.
Originally all these wood carvings were collected from the old chariot of Govindaraja Swami temple belonged to the 17th century which was built during the period of Matla Kumara Anantha Raya.
Ivory pallaki which the Mysore king donated to the Srivari temple stands for its highest quality of artistic vision. The four sides of the pallaki are decorated with narrative figures of Ramayana, Sri Krishna Leelas and Dasavatharas in Ivory are could be astonished with the beautification of the carving.
Musical Instruments
Music is a form of art that comes from the Greek words meaning “art of the muses” who were the goddesses who inspired the arts such as literature, music and poetry. T.T.D., Tirumala Museum contains 64 types of musical instruments and they are classified into four categories i.e. Tata Vadya, Sushira Vadya, Avanaddha Vadya, and Ghana Vadya.
- TataVadya – String Instruments eg: veena, sitar, tumbura etc.
- Sushira Vadya – weird instruments eg; organ, harmonium, nadaswaram, flute etc.
- Avanaddha Vadya – Membrane covered eg: mridangam, damaru.
- Ghana Vadya – Solid percussion instruments eg: Ghatam, gangs, Kartal.
Annamayya Sankeerthana Copper plates
Sri Tallapaka Annamayya wrote 32 thousand sankeerthanas on Lord Venkateswara praising His glory. These sankeerthanas copied from palm leaves and inscribed on copper plates during the period of Achyutha Raya in the 16th century by Tallapaka Pedda Tirumalacharya and Chinna Tirumalacharya. These were stored in stone chamber besides north side of Srivari Hundi and named Annamayya Bhandagaram.
Later these were shifted to the S.V. Museum, Tirumala. These copper plates are classified into three categories. They are Bhandarekulu, Sadaranarekulu and Talapatra kruti rekulu (Copper plates).
Interested Devotees can witness the script of the copper plates during the museum’s working hours i.e. from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM
Vahanams
The processional deity of Sri Venkateswara is taken out in processions through four Mada streets of Tirumala in view of welfare of the devotees. Each Vahanam describes the spiritual proximally with the god and remind us the inseparable relation between atma and paramatma.
Coins
The museum has the collection antique gold, silver and copper coins available from Srivari Hundi belonged to 15th century A.D. down to 18th century of different dynasties who were on rule in India.
