HC halts Tirupati gold work

Adhik Vaishakh Shuddha Ashtami, Kaliyug Varsha 5112

Hyderabad (Bhagyanagar): Andhra Pradesh High Court has directed Tirumala authorities to stop gold-plating the exterior walls of the sanctum sanctorum of the Srivari temple following a public interest petition.

The petitioner, G. Raghava Reddy, the chief of the shrine protection committee, claimed the project would erase the inscriptions on the 10,000sqft walls and hurt religious sentiments.

A division bench of the court yesterday passed an interim order directing the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam, the state endowment secretary, the director-general of the Archaeological Survey of India and the Union culture secretary to stop the project as it violated sections 97 and 97B of the Andhra endowment act. The two sections relate to destroying or erasing inscriptions on temple walls.

Reddy also claimed that the board of the TTD, which manages the shrine, said to be the world’s richest, had gone ahead with the work without consulting religious scholars.

The TTD chairman, however, said there was no threat to the ancient inscriptions in archaic Tamil, Telugu, Prakrit and Sanskrit. “The inscriptions are not being damaged in any way as the gold plating will be done at least two inches away from the walls. Besides, we are digitising them (the inscriptions) and preserving them for posterity,” Adikeshavulu Naidu said.

The Srivari temple, 750km south-west of Hyderabad, is the main abode of Lord Venkateswara. The gold-plating of the gopuram (tower) and the front wall has already been completed. The current legal tussle is over gold-plating the remaining three sides.

The TTD authorities, who have collected 150kg of gold this year, said they hoped to complete the project by August.

“All we need is another 50kg for the completion of the project,” the TTD chairman said.

“Gold plating is aimed at enhancing the divine energy of the magnificent idol of Lord Venkateswara, which, in turn, benefits millions of devotees who come for darshan ,” said A.V.G. Ramana Dikshitulu, the chief priest.

But Raghava Reddy, the petitioner, said that even TTD executive officer I.Y.R. Krishna Rao had opposed the project.

Krishna Rao, who also allegedly wrote to the government against the project, however, refused comment.

The exercise of gold plating the temple began in 1267 when the then Pandyan King, Sundara Pandyan, took up the task of gold-plating the gopuram. Later, Saluva king Mungidevudu and Vijayanagara emperor Sree Krishna Devaraya donated over 1,000kg of gold for the work.

For the now-stalled exercise, the TTD had drawn up a scheme to attract donors. Devotees who offered at least 1kg of gold were to be allowed free VIP darshan and given accommodation. However, the TTD does not need to depend on donation schemes for the project. The daily collection in its hundi comes to around 5kg of gold. This month, the temple deposited 3,000kg of gold in a bank.

Source: The Telegraph

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