Dhruva Bera - Presiding Deity
The main Deity is also termed as mula virat (Moola Virat), Dhruva murthy, Dhruva Beram, Mula beram. (moola beram)
This idol of Salagrama stone self-manifestation of the Lord wearing a disc and conch in the sanctum sanctorum of Ananda Nilaya. It is about 8 feet high.
The Dhruvabera of Lord Venkateswara and the complementary bronzes, with the Utsava murtis of Sri Rama and Sri Krishna, make up the pantheon of Tirumala.
Tradition has it that the Dhruvabera of Lord Venkateswara was not wrought by the hand of man and that the Supreme Lord manifested himself in a form that could easily be comprehended by human beings. Thus we have Nammalwar’s assurances that Param has come down to Tirumala from his Divya Loka out of his own choice for our spiritual benefit.
All the earlier alwars have also stated that the devas headed by Brahma daily worship Sri Venkateswara on this hill as we have been doing even now. Sri Ramanuja the great Vaishnava teacher in his Mangalasloka of his great work “Sribhashya” lays stress on the great solace of the Lord for the salvation of mankind and equals Brahma with Srinivasa.
Hence traditional belief is that Sri Venkateswara is self-manifested Brahma came to Tirumala for our salvation.
The idol of Lord Venkateswara at Tirumala is seen to be a standing one which makes it fall only under the sthanaka type. Hence a sthanaka image, according to the Agamas, can be of the Yoga, Bhoga, Vira, or Abhicharika type, each of which would have three sub-types namely Uttama, Madhyama, and Adhama murtis.
