Hyderabad: Competition between ‘brotherly’ states Andhra Pradesh and Telangana has taken a religious overtone.
After bifurcation, Andhra Pradesh retained its famous pilgrimage of Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple at Tirumala, the Sri Mallikarjuna Swamy temple at Srisailam and Sri Kalahasthi temple in Chittoor. Telangana, on the other hand, separated with its share of temples, but none that attracts the pull closely resembling the three. Predictably Telangana chief minister Chandrashekhar Rao’s next move was to ‘right the wrong’ by building the state’s own Tirumala, in the shape of Yadagirigutta, or a temple for Sri Lakshmi Narsimha Swamy.
Tirumala has centuries old tradition and the attention showered on it by successive governments has played a key role in making it one of the country's major pilgrimages. From Krishnadevaraya, the Vijayanagara king, to Chandrababu Naidu, the temple has historically received official patronage. Yadagirigutta started to attract attention only in the last one year. After the chief minister announced his plans to develop it along the lines of Tirumala, the number of visitors increased, touching 50,000.
As against Rs 66.58cr the temple earned in 2013-14, the income rose to Rs 73.31cr in 2014-15. Yadagirigutta is situated 50 km from Hyderabad and is well connected by rail and road. But the number of pilgrims borders at a mere 20,000 or 25,000, on auspicious days, unlike Tirumala where the count is up to a lakh per day. Tirumala, located on Seshachalam hills, is also well known for the seven-hill climb for pilgrims who prefer to trek from Tirupati at the foot hills.
Which is why, now, if Tirumala has seven hills, Yadagirigutta shall have nine. The authorities, after renaming it Yadadri, created the Yadagirigutta Temple Development Authority to oversee the construction of a re-imagined complex creating a ‘perfect pilgrimage’ spread over nearly 2,000 acres at the Yadadri foothills. Vice Chairman of the YTDA, G Kishen Rao said the development plans for Yadadri are inspired by Tirumala. “But this is not a competition with Tirumala. There can be no rivalry on such issues,” he said.“Right now, all major temples in Telangana, Bhadrachalam, Vemulavada, Vijayawada or at other locations, attract pilgrims during festivals. The CM wants to provide people of Telangana a religious destination that they can visit throughout the year.”
The government has set aside Rs 200 crore for the project so far and Rs 100 crore has been promised every year in the budget for the next three years. That may not appear much but when all is done, the first CM of Telangana would have the satisfaction of keeping his promise of developing the temple into Telangana's Tirumala.
