The bitter rival ry between Telangana and Andhra Pradesh has now turned into a temple contest.
Following bifurcation in June last year, the gods stayed with Andhra, in a manner o speaking. AP retained Balaj temple at Tirumala, Tirupati Mallikarjuna Swamy temple a Srisailam and Kalahasthi tem ple in Chittoor. Telangana has its share of temples but none to match the pull of the Big Three Telangana CM K Chandra sekhar Rao is determined to set that straight by giving his state its own Tirumala in Yadagirigutta, a temple dedicated to Lakshmi Narasimha.
KCR declared his plans in October last year and Yadagiri temple authorities say foot falls have increased since, touching 50,000 on some days.Temple revenues too went up, from ` 66.58 crore in 2013-14 to `73.31crore in 2014-15. Yadagirigutta, around 50km from Hyderabad, is well connected by rail and road.The govern ment has set aside `200 crore for the project and `100 crore has been promised every year in the budget for the next three years.
Tirumala has a centuriesold tradition and the attention showered on it by successive governments has played a key role in making it one of the country's major pilgrimage centres. From Krishnadevaraya, the Vijayanagara king, to CM N Chandrababu Naidu, the temple has historically received official patronage.
But the number of pilgrims is a mere 20,000 or 25,000, and that too on auspicious days, unlike Tirumala where the count is up to a lakh per day.And what Tirumala earns in 10 days, takes a year for the Yadagirigutta temple to raise. Yadagirigutta is around 50km from Hyderabad and is well con nected by rail and road. But the number of pilgrims is a mere 20,000 or 25,000, and that too on auspicious days, unlike Tirumala where the count is up to a lakh per day. And what Tirumala earns in 10 days, takes a year for the Yadagirigutta temple to raise.
Tirumala, located on Seshachalam hills, is also well known for the seven-hill climb for pilgrims who prefer to trek from Tirupati at the foothills.
Yadagirigutta, on the other hand, is on a single hillock and suffers in comparison. Somewhat ingeniously, the Telangana administration has now counted eight other hillocks that dot the countryside near Yadagirigutta, and these are now part of the development plans.
So now, if Tirumala has seven hills, Yadagirigutta shall have nine.And after renaming it Yadadri (similar sounding to Seshadri, one of the seven Tirumala hills), the Telangana government in February created the Yadagirigutta Temple Development Authority (YTDA) to oversee 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 told TOI that the develop ment plans for Yadadri are inspired by Tirumala but “this is not a competition with Tirumala. There can be no rivalry on such issues“.
He added, “Right now, all major temples in Telangana, Bhadrachalam and Vemulavada 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.
