Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), the world’s richest temple trust, plans to construct a replica of Lord Venkateswara’s temple in every state and Union territory of India. Founded in 1933, TTD initially administered the affairs of only a handful of temples, including the iconic Lord Venkateswara Swamy temple at Tirumala, Sri Padmavathi Ammavari temple at Tiruchanoor, and Sri Govindaraja Swamy temple at Tirupati, among others.
Nearly nine decades later, TTD has already established 58 temples dedicated to Lord Venkateswara across India. Most of them are in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana. While TTD first began constructing and taking over temples in Andhra Pradesh, the first major temple outside the region was the Balaji temple in Rishikesh, Uttarakhand, in 1969. In 2019, TTD expanded its footprint to the southernmost tip of India by establishing a Lord Venkateswara temple at Kanyakumari. More recently, it consecrated a new Balaji temple in Jammu, the northernmost state, on June 8.
TTD is considering building three more temples at Gandhinagar in Gujarat, Raipur in Chhattisgarh, and in Bihar, where discussions are in the preliminary stage with the Nitish Kumar CMO. The trust recently laid the foundation for a replica of Lord Balaji’s temple in Mumbai as well. The Maharashtra government allocated 10 acres of prime land at Navi Mumbai worth approximately ₹600 crore to TTD for construction. TTD will spend ₹70 crore towards the construction in the financial capital of India.
Constructing Lord Venkateswara Swamy temples across the 28 states and 8 union territories is their effort in taking the almighty to the very doorsteps of devotees, said TTD Chairman YV Subba Reddy. Following Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s instructions, TTD has also taken up the responsibility of constructing smaller temples in remote and backward villages in various south Indian states. With the help of donations received through the Srivani Trust (Sri Venkateswara Alayala Nirmanam Trust), TTD is constructing nearly 2,445 small temples in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. The trust received ₹860 crore in donations from over 8 lakh devotees in a span of just four years, which has helped it speed up the process of establishing more temples.
