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Chikur Balaji Temple
Religion
AffiliationHinduism
DeityLord Venkateswara
Location
LocationChilkur Village, Gandipet, Ranga Reddy District, Telangana
StateTelangana
CountryIndia
Geographic coordinates17°21′30″N 78°17′55″E / 17.35833°N 78.29861°E / 17.35833; 78.29861
Architecture
Completed14th century
Website
chilkurbalaji.com
Gopuram at Chilkur Temple

Chilkur Balaji Temple, popularly known as "Visa Balaji Temple'', is an ancient Hindu temple of Lord Balaji on the banks of Osman Sagar in Rangareddy District in Telangana. It is one of the oldest temples in Hyderabad Dist earlier now in Rangareddy Dist. built during the time of Madanna and Akkanna, the uncles of Bhakta Ramadas.[1]

This temple has no hundi and neither accepts any money from devotees.[2] VAK Books also known as the Voice of Temples with religious news is available here. This is one of the special Temples in India with no green channel or privileges for VIP's.[3] The only other such temple is the Jalaram temple in Virpur (Rajkot), Gujarat. This temple fought and won the right to stay out of government control. The only another such temple is "Ramanuj Kot", a temple in Jodhpur, Rajasthan.[1]

Circumambulations

During a visit the devotee goes through the usual rituals of prayer, including 11 circumambulations of the inner shrine, and makes a vow. Once the wish is fulfilled devotees then walk 108 times around the sanctum sanctorum. The majority of wishes by devotees are visa related, thus Chilkur Balaji is also referred to as 'Visa' Balaji.[4] The 11 circumambulations represent the secret of creation – 11 means "1 soul and 1 body" – uniting both with devotion and full determination to fulfill wish, dedicate on the lord; there is no second, everything is god. In the 108 circumambulations, 1 represents the Existence, Almighty, God (Paramathma, Balaji in the minds of the devotee), 0 represents Creation (Illusionary World, Jagath) and 8 represents the time Human Body takes to come to this universe-8 months (Jivatma).

Temple Timings

The temple typically opens at 4:00 am on most days and closes at 8:00 pm.

Darshan Timings

Darshan is available from 6:00 am to 1:00 pm and then from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm.

108 circumambulations(Pradakshinas) Timings

108 circumambulations(Pradakshinas) are conducted daily from 6:00 am to 12:30 pm and from 4:00 pm to 6:30 pm.

[5]

References

  1. ^ a b "Chilkur temple weaves dress code". The Times of India. Times News Network. 17 March 2008. Archived from the original on 23 October 2012. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
  2. ^ "Telangana / Hyderabad News : Autonomy granted to Chilkur Balaji temple". The Hindu. 4 March 2008. Archived from the original on 5 April 2008. Retrieved 31 October 2012.
  3. ^ "Chilkur Balaji temple of Hyderabad gets fame as 'visa god' temple". news.biharprabha.com. ANI. 20 May 2015. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
  4. ^ Visa Temple, The Times of India, by Vamsee Juluri, 30 March 2006
  5. ^ "Chilkur Balaji Temple Timings". Tirupati Balaji Online. Retrieved 29 November 2023.

External links

Hindu Temples in Telangana
Hyderabad topics
Categories