Seva in Tirumala

The Tirumala Venkateshwara temple (or Sri Venkateshwara Swami Devasthanam) is a landmark Vaishnavite temple situated in the hill town of Tirumala at Tirupati in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh, India. The temple is dedicated to Lord Venkateshwara, an incarnation of Vishnu, who is believed to exist here to save mankind from the trials and troubles of Kaliyuga. There are many rituals and festivals performed in the temple round the year as per Vaikhanasa Agama. These rituals and festivals are performed on a daily, weekly and periodic basis. Few of these rituals are also termed as Seva as these are performed by devotees (also called grihasta) on payment. All these rituals are organised by Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams which administers the temple.
Daily rituals
Daily rituals are performed to all the deities in the temple as per Vaikhanasa Agama. Devotees are allowed to view and sometimes perform few of these rituals.
Suprabhata Seva
Suprabhata Seva is the first and foremost pre-dawn ritual that is performed to Lord Venkateshwara in a day in Tirumala Venkateshwara temple. Suprabhatam is a Sanskrit term which means Good Morning. The ritual is performed in Sayana Mantapam inside the sanctum sanctorum of the temple to wake up Lord Venkateswara from his celestial sleep by singing sacred Sanskrit hymns. Suprabhatam hymns consists of 70 slokas which are divided into four categories which include
Koluvu
This is a private seva performed in the sanctum of the temple to the Koluvu Srinivasa idol. It is performed after the Thomala seva in the early hours of the day. There is restricted entry during this seva as some important matters relating to the temple are recited amidst the idol along with the Panchangam or horoscope of the day.
Archana
On completion of Thomala Seva, Archana or Sahasranamarchana (1000 name recital) is performed to the main deity Lord Venkateshwara amidst chanting of his one thousand names. After the recital, blessings are obtained from the Lord for the whole world as saying the name and gotram of each the ticket holders would make it a lengthy process as there would be about 200 Seva kartas every day. The entire ritual lasts for 30 minutes. Archana is then performed to Vakshasthala Lakshmi Tayar in Ekantam, with a curtain drawn over the sanctum.
Unlike other Vaishnava temples, the Sahasranamam invoked here is not the well known Vishnu Sahasranamam but Sri Venkateshwara Sahasaranamam which is unique and recited to the lord only in Tirumala. While the origin date of the seva is not known, an inscription from 1518 A.D. is the earliest recorded instance where Sahasranamarchana is mentioned.
Lord Venkateswara receives the second and third archanas in ekantam later in the day. Archana is an arjita seva on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and is performed in ekantam on other days. Each ticket allows one person and 2 small Laddus are offered as prasadam for this arjita seva.
Kalyanotsavam
Srivari Kalyanotsavam is performed to the Utsava Murti -Sri Malayappa swami (instead of the main deity) and his consorts Sridevi and Bhudevi. The archakas (priests) are consecrated to perform rituals on behalf of the bridegroom. The wedding ceremony is held according to the Vaikhanasa Agama rituals and starts with the Vishwaksena Puja. This is followed by Punya-avahachana and pronouncing the family pedigree of the brides and bridegroom. The idols of the Lord and his brides face each other with a tera (screen) in between them. After the priests perform appropriate homas, the bridegroom and the brides are allowed to see each other at the appropriate auspicious moment when the screen is removed. This is followed by Mangala sutra dharana, Purnahuti and Talambralu and then Lord and his consorts are garlanded.
This seva is not performed on important festivals like Srivari Brahmotsavam, Pavitrotsavam, Pushpayagam, etc., and on the days of solar and lunar eclipses. The duration of the seva is about one hour.
The practice of Kalyanotsavam started in 1536 AD when Tallapaka Tirumala Ayyangar conceived the idea of celebrating the marriage festival of Lord Malayappa swami and the ceremony was conducted over five days in the Tirumamani mandapam.
Vasthralakarana Seva (Friday)
This paid seva also known as Melchat Vastram is conducted immediately after conducting Abhishekam on Fridays. The deity of Venkateshwara will be adorned with a saree bought and handed over by devotees participating in that seva. The archakas will apply Namam, adorn saree and a few jewels to the deity of Venkateswara and no devotee is allowed to watch this. The devotees participating in Abhishekam and Vastralankarana Seva are allowed for Abhisheka-anantara darshanam with a new saree after offering naivedyam to the Lord.
Nijapada Darshanam (Friday)
Archana anantara darshan on Friday is called Nijapada Darshanam. Normally the Lord's feet are covered with a golden kavacham . But on Friday after performing Abhishekam to Venkateswara, the feet are left without the kavacham during which Nijapada Darshanam is held which allows devotees to see the feet of the Lord. This is a paid service where the devotees are allowed until Kulasekhara padi.
Annual Sevas
The main annual festival of the Tirumala temple is the Brahmotsavam festival coinciding with the Dussara festival though Brahmotsavam function is carried out twice in the temple (the lesser known of the Brahmotsavam occurs earlier in August-September). Apart from Brahmotsavam, the following functions are conducted every year:
* Teppotsavam
* Vasantotsavam
* Padmavati Parinayam
* Abhideyaka Abhishekam
* Pushpa Pallaki
* Koil Alwar Tirumanjanam
* Pavitrotsavam

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