It is an age-old-belief of devotees of Sri Venkateswara Swamy at Tirumala in Andhra Pradesh that seeing the Ananda Nilayam (dome of bliss) of sanctum sanctorum of Srivari Temple itself will wipe out all sins committed by the viewer without any trace.
Though they failed to have a glimpse of the presiding deity, they still went ahead to offer ‘pranaam’ to the sacred dome of bliss and returned with full satisfaction.
Now the Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanams(TTD) trust board has decided to commence the gold-plated works of Ananda Nilayam after performing maha samprokshanam to Ashtabandhana Balalayam on Feb 23, 2023.
According to the historical evidence, the gold plating was done to the Ananda Nilayam way back in the 15th century with the gold and copper offered by the kings from Pandya and Chola dynasties to the presiding deity.
Later in order to strengthen the sanctum sanctorum, maha samprokshanam to Ashtabandhana Balalayam was performed between 1957 and 1958. Then gold plated the Ananda Nilayam. Since the bliss of the dome is very much intact without any problems but there is a need to repair the beneath the gold-plated Ananda Nilayam.
In 2008, then TTD chairman Adikeshavulu Naidu made a proposal to gold plate the dome of bliss and brought the Ananta Swarna Mayam Project. The TTD trust board has made a resolution to use 450 Kgs of gold worth Rs.100 crore to gold plate the Ananda Nilayam in the month of September 2008.
Then Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy launched the prestigious project on October 1, of the same year. On the same day, then Karnataka chief minister Yediyurappa donated gold to the project, and very devotees in large numbers came forward to donate the yellow metal to the Ananta Swarna Mayam Project. Within one month of accepting the donations, as many as 83 devotees donated 94.8 Kgs of gold to the project. 187 donors offered Rs.12.86 crore to the TTD to launch the works at the earliest.
The project was proposed to complete in two phases where the gold plating from Ganta Mandapam to Hundi in and around the Srivari Temple in the first phase and the second phase of the project will be taken up in the Vaikunta Pradakshina Margam(the root meaning for Vaikunta Pradakshinam). Within no time as many 270 donors responded and made huge donations to the project.
Meanwhile, stating that the gold plating of Ananda Nilayam as well as the sanctum sanctorum of the Srivari Temple is against the prescribed agamas, political leader Subramanian Swamy has approached the High Court. In the thought of the Ananta Swarna Mayam Project a heavy burden to the TTD, then executive officer (EO) IYR Krishna Rao put an end to the project. He wrote a series of letters to the state government and finally the court issued an interim order to stall the project.
After a gap of almost 14 years, seems to be a coincidence, the TTD trust board has decided to restart the prestigious project, launched by then chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy, where his son YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is the present chief minister of the state.
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