The Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple constructed on the lines of Tirumala temple is all set for a grand opening at Venkatapalem village in Amaravati. The TTD officials are awaiting the government nod for the opening of the temple, and all works relating to the construction have been completed.
According to information, though the total budget for the temple is ₹36 crore, the TTD spent about ₹30 crore till date. The actual estimate for the Tirumala replica at Amaravati was about ₹140 crore. The TTD, however, decided to construct the prakarams, kalyana mandapams, etc., on the lines of Tirumala at a later stage. With this, the construction cost has come down to ₹36 crore.
The TTD authorities, taking inspiration from Pallava, Chola, Chalukya and Vijayanagara architecture, have designed the temple, which stands on one-acre land. In comparison, the area of Tirumala temple occupies three acres. The height of the main deity idol at Tirumala is 9 feet. The height at Amaravati is limited to 8 feet six inches keeping in view of ‘manasutra’ (a calculation to decide the height of idol, temple, etc.).
TTD Sthapathi I.V. Krishna Rao says that different styles of architecture were adopted while designing the temple. For instance, Vijayanagara style was followed in the construction of pillars. All the pillars were eka sila (single rock). Garudalwar Sannidhi was designed as per Pallava style. Sikhara etc were done following Chola architecture, he says.
Mr. Krishna Rao says that 1.20 lakh cubic feet (each cubic ft is 82 kg of rock) of black granite was used in the construction of the temple. The black granite was brought from Namakkal in Tamil Nadu. About 150 to 200 shilpis took part in carving pillars for the temple. But, for the main idol, the stone was brought from Kanchi.
TTD Chairman Y.V. Subba Reddy performed pooja to the sila on July 2019. It took about six months to carve the main idol, Jaya, Vijaya, etc., he explains.
The Sthapathi says that 24 Kesava murthis can be seen on prakaaram of the temple. Dasavataram, 10 incarnations of Lord Vishnu, were carved on Mukha mandapam. Most importantly, cement was not used except on the roof. Baby chips and cement were used for leveling the roof. Rest was architectural marvel, he says.
The TTD has already constructed temples at Kurukshetra, Kanya Kumari and other are in offing at Hyderabad, Kolkata, Bhubaneswar and also coming up in Agency areas like Sitampeta, Parvathipuram, Rampachodavaram, and other locations.
