Sri Prasanna Venkateswara Swamy Temple Archives

Appalayagunta

Appalayagunta is the holy place of the Supreme Deity of Kaliyuga i.e., Lord Venkateswara Swamy in the name of ‘Sri Prasanna Venkateswara Swamy’. Innumerable devotees worship Him with earnest devotion. The Lord of the temple is known for His graceful consideration towards His devotees who are in dire necessity of His blessings, and He blesses them all very liberally.

In the olden days a devotee named ‘Appulayya’ while going to Tirumala rested for some time in the present Appalayagunta area. After some time he resumed his journey. At this time he forgot his bag containing money.

Fearing about the bag, Appulayya prayed to Lord Venkateswara Swamy if the bag was available I would dig a pond in the Appalayagunta area which is in drought. After the grand ‘darshan’ of Lord Venkateswara in Tirumala, Appulayya reached the place where he rested and saw his bag. After that Appulayya dug a pond.

The place was named ‘Appulayya Kunta’ or ‘Appulayyagunta’.

Sri Prasanna Venkateswara Swamy Temple – Legend

There is an interesting ‘sthalapurana’ regarding the temple. It also tells the reason why Lord Venkateswara stayed in Appalayagunta with ‘Abhayahastam’ instead of Varadahastam and how He got the name Sri Prasanna Venkateswara Swamy. There were hills near Appalayagunta called ‘Yogula Konda’.

Many sages used to perform penance in the caves on this hill. A saint named Siddulayya reached this hill after travelling to many places. He identified that it is suitable for his penance. He started penance by worshipping Sri Venkateswara Swamy.

After some days Sri Venkateswara Swamy appeared and received prayers from the ‘maharshi’ and stayed in Appalayagunta with Abhayahastam as per the wish of the saint.

Appalayagunta Temple - Sri Prasanna Venkateswara Swamy Temple

The Structure of the Temple

The temple of Sri Prasanna Venkateswaraswamy in Appalayagunta is located in a spacious courtyard. The temple faces towards the East. Opposite the main temple, one can see Sri Prasanna Anjaneyaswamy temple and Pushkarini. The main ‘gopuram’ consists of three stairs. After entering the temple, one can see ‘Balipeetham,’ Dwaja Sthambham and Garudalwar Sannidhi.

The main temple consists of Mukhamandapam, Antaralayam and Garbhalayam.

In Mukhamandapam, one can see Sri Vishwakshena Swamy, Sri Ramanujacharlyulu along with Vaishnava Alwars. On the way to Antaralayam, there are Dwarapalakas on both sides. In main sanctum sanctorum, one finds Lord Prasanna Venkateswara Swamy having four hands with Shanku, Chakra, Kati Hastam and Abhaya Hastam.

Abhayamudra

Sri Prasanna Venkateswara Swamy is similar to Sri Venkateswara Swamy at Tirumala in His features. The only difference is that Sri Venkateswara Swamy shows His feet with Varadamudra and Sri Prasanna Venkateswara Swamy bears the Abhayamudra.

As the Lord is with the Abhayahastam, He gives refuge to the devotees and fulfils their desires. Thus, devotees overcome hardships and sufferings. They believe that if they visit the Lord on Saturday, all their wishes will be fulfilled quickly.

On the northwest and southwest premises of the main temple, there are two more temples. In these temples, one can see the consorts of the Lord Sri Padmavathi Devi and Sri Andal. Sri Padmavathi Devi appears in sitting posture with four hands, wearing Padmas in two hands and Abhaya, and Varada Mudras in the other two hands.

Sri Andal appears in a standing posture with two hands, wearing a lotus in one hand and the other hand down in a graceful form.

History of the Temple

The temple was built nearly one thousand years ago by the descendants of Akasaraja who had also built the temples in Tirumala and Narayanavanam. Later, their descendants and the kings who ruled the city of Karvetinagaram renovated the temple. Around 1750, Sri Venkata Perumalraju of Karavetinagaram renovated the temple and gave charity.

Sri Sarangapani (1750- 1820), a court poet of Karvetinagaram wrote hymns about this Lord. In the year 1988, the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams took over the management of the temple. Currently, the temple is under TTD administration. In recent times, a ‘rajagopuram’ has been constructed over the main entrance of the temple.

Sri Prasanna Venkateswara Swamy - Appalayagunta

The Sevas

The Brahmotsavams of Sri Prasanna Venkateswara Swamy at Appalayagunta are performed in the month of Jyeshta for a period of nine days apart from daily rituals every year. During the Brahmotsavams different ‘vahana sevas’ including the Rathotsavam will be performed grandly. Besides the Bramhotsavams, and Vaikunta Ekadashi, other festivals and special pujas will be performed during ‘Dhanurmasam’ every year.

Accommodation

Accommodation facilities are not available for devotees in Appalayagunta. So it is better to return to Tirupati after a visit of Appalayagunta. It is located approximately 18 km away from Tirupati and 12 km away from Tiruchanur.

Local tour buses run by the Department of Tourism are available from TTD Vishnu Nivasam (Rest house) in Tirupati.

Appalayagunta Location

Appalayagunta is a small village in Puttur taluk, Chittoor district. In this village, there is a divine pious & precious Lord Sri Venkateswara Temple. As per Hindu mythology, Lord Venkateswara married goddess Padmavathi in Narayanavanam and then climbed Tirumala.

On the way to Tirumala, he visited Lord Shiva’s temple at Kailasanatha Kona and blessed the saints there. He then left for Vemula Konda (The hill of Yogis). In Vemula Konda, to fulfil Siddheswara muni’s wish, Sri Venkateswara promised the saint that he would stay there and bless the devotees.

Siddheswara muni placed the Lord’s idol down the hill, built a temple, and named the Lord there “Prasanna Venkateswara Swami”.

Sri Prasanna Venkateswara, Appalayagunta

Doralu Dagina Konda” (King’s hiding cave)

There is a cave in Siddheswara hill. Long ago, the kings of Karveti Nagara took hiding in that cave during an invader attack since then that cave has been named “Doralu Dagina Konda” (King’s hiding cave).

As per the local people’s narration, the sword present in that cave cannot be pulled out of its hole, no matter how strong you try to pull it out. Until recent times, Utsavams have been held for this intriguing sword.

Based on the scripture evidence, we can say that the Prasanna Venkateswara temple was built by the Karveti Nagara Kings. A big pond in front of the temple was also built, along with the temple, which is still the biggest pond in this region.

Reason for the Name – Appalyagunta

While constructing it, daily hundreds of servants were called for work and the wages were paid to all of them at dusk, not going into debt with them. Some say that that is how this pond got its name “AppalayaGunta”.

According to the local records, it is named “Amruta Sarovaram”. In Tamil language “Amrunda” means “No Debts”. A few others say the pond got its name from “Appalayya”, a local officer who supervised its construction.

The village situated at the front side of the pond is also named “AppalayaGunta”.

As the financial situation of the administrators of Karveti Nagara became seriously ill even before the completion of this pond, its construction was left incomplete. This pond is also called “Padma Sarovaram”.

Along with the Pond’s construction, the Kings of Karveti Nagara started the temple construction too. However, due to the same financial constraints, the temple construction was also not completed.

But, since they were the trustees of the temple, they made “Annayya Gunta” or “Ayyanna Palli” village as the property of the temple. But over time, only the Annayyagunta village remained and all others were exhausted.

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Sri Prasanna Venkateswara Swamy Temple, Appalayagunta