Yelläks /ˈyæl•eks/

Last week a few friends and I went to Tirupati. The journey started on Monday at 11 pm from Bangalore main bus stand. Tirupati is a town located in the state called Andhra Pradesh and it takes around 5 hours to reach it. A foot path and around 3500 steps lay between Tirupati and Tirumala. But what is so special about this town and why should somebody climb up so many stairs just to see another town? And why are there so many shaved heads?

In Tirumala is one of the most visited temple in India and millions of pilgrims worship Sri Venkateshvara every year. Especially during weekends and special days, the waiting queue to see the statue is so long that it can take several days to have finally a 10 seconds long glance on it. The waiting halls looked like a huge auditorium and the first time when I saw them, I thought these are for people watching some event going on in the garden, which is surrounded by the halls. After entering the temple which is not restricted to foreigners, the level of pushing and pulling each other raised and it reached its maximum just before the statue. Although the pushing and pulling the beautiful ornaments and figures in pure gold, the smell, the chantings, and the awaiting to see Sri Venkateshvara spread some kind of sacred atmosphere.
Officials stood in front of the statue to ensure that someone did not spend more than a few seconds and holding up the queue by pushing the pilgrims forward. After the worshiping some other parts of the administration of the temple were shown: For instance the office, which counted all the money the pilgrims threw into a big money bag. Prasada which is actually the food for the Lord and some rice dish, was offered to the pilgrims.

After that I bought some Laddus, which is some kind of sweet. It is also considered to be holy and this kind is only available in Tirumala. The people of IISc are very crazy about it and every time they ask me, if something is left (and there is still something hidden in my room).

In and around Tirupati and Tirumala a lot of shaved heads can be seen. Plenty of people get it shaved to sacrifice it to the god. The hair is sold by the temple officials to Europe and the US to make expensive wigs out of the thick and strong Indian hair.
In Tirumala the foreigner can see one thing immediately: Religion and commerce do not exclude each other. Everything which is somehow related either to religion or to the daily needs is sold. From almost every stall the same religious songs are played and plenty of blinking and flashing LED frames can be bought.

The trip to Tirupati was very interesting. Especially because I have never been to an active temple before. Unfortunately no electronic devices such as cameras etc. were allowed in the temple, so I do not have any photos. Only from the trip itself.

More information can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tirupati

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