Veṅkaṭācala is the sacred mountain of the southern land where Bhagavān Śrīnivāsa (Bhagavān Vishṇu) lives for ever. It is also called Veṅkaṭādri, Śeshādri, Nārāyaṇādri and Vrishādri. Bhagavān Śrīnivāsa dwells in his Ānanda-vimāna on the south bank of Svāmi Pushkariṇī.

The Purāṇa counts it chief among the mountains of the southern quarter. It is seven yojanas in extent and one yojana in height, and it shines with gold and precious gems. It bears sixty-six crore tīrthas (holy bathing places).

Location and geography

Veṅkaṭācala stands in the southern direction, five yojanas north of a mountain called Gajaparvata and to the north of the Kamalasarovara. The sacred river Svarṇamukhī flows to the north of the mountain. The mountain is seven yojanas in extent and one yojana in height. Its ridges and slopes shine like a rock of gold set with gems. Dense groves of haricandana (sandalwood) cover it thickly. (Chapter 1)

Bhagavān Varāha describes the place to Bhūdevī. North of the Kamalasarovara, at a distance of two and a half yojanas through a forest of haricandana trees, lies the mountain that is the abode of Bhagavān Vāsudeva: Śrī Veṅkaṭācala.

Indra and all the devas live here. So do Vasishṭha and the great ṛshis, the siddhas, sādhyas, maruts, dānavas, daityas and rākshasas, and Rambhā and the divine gandharvas. The nāgas, garuḍas and kinnaras perform tapas (austerity) here. Many divine lakes and ponds fill the mountain. (Chapter 1)

The seven peaks

The seven peaks of Veṅkaṭācala bear their own names:

Añjanādri: linked with the Kṛta-yuga, when it was the principal abode of Parameśvara. It is also the mountain where Añjanā performed her tapas for a thousand years.
Śeshādri: one of the famous peaks at the southern end.
Vrishabhādri: the peak linked with Vrishabha.
Nīlādri: the blue peak.
Siṃhādri: linked with Narasiṃha. It was the principal abode of Parameśvara in the Dvāpara-yuga.
Varāhādri: the peak linked with Varāha.

(Chapter 35)

The abode in each yuga

Bhagavān Varāha tells Bhūdevī that the place of Parameśvara’s principal abode on earth changes with the yugas:

Kṛta-yuga: Añjanādri
Tretā-yuga: Nārāyaṇādri
Dvāpara-yuga: Siṃhādri
Kali-yuga: Śrī Veṅkaṭādri

A person may be a thousand yojanas away, or may have gone to another dvīpa (continent). If that person faces the direction of Veṅkaṭādri and offers namaskāra with bhakti (devotion), all their pāpa (sin) departs and they reach Vishṇuloka. (Chapter 1)

The sixty-six crore tīrthas

Veṅkaṭādri holds sixty-six crore tīrthas. The Purāṇa names seven of them on the mountain itself as the chief ones:

Chakratīrtha
Daiva-tīrtha
Viyad-gaṅgā (Ākāśagaṅgā)
Kumāradhārikā
Pāpanāśana
Pāṇḍava-tīrtha
Svāmi Pushkariṇī

Of these, Svāmi Pushkariṇī stands highest. All the others are equal to it in merit. (Chapter 1)

Chapter 27 gives the full māhātmya (greatness) of the sixty-six crore tīrthas. It names six that grant moksha (liberation) when a person bathes in them at set times fixed by the stars and the sun. Even to remember or praise any tīrtha on Veṅkaṭādri brings moksha. Bathing in Kumāradhārikā at noon on Māgha paurṇamī (the full-moon day of Māgha), when the sun is in Kumbha rāśi, gives the same puṇya (merit) as twelve years of bathing in the Gaṅgā and the other great tīrthas. (Chapters 1, 27)

The Ānanda-vimāna

In the Kṛta-yuga of the twenty-eighth Dvāpara cycle, Vāyu performed intense tapas. Bhagavān Śrīnivāsa was pleased. He came to live on the south bank of Svāmi Pushkariṇī, with Śrīdevī and Bhūdevī, in the Ānanda-vimāna. He said that he would stay there unseen (adṛśya) until the end of the kalpa.

The ṛshi Agastya came to the mountain and worshipped Bhagavān Śrīnivāsa for twelve years. He begged him to become visible to all beings. Bhagavān Śrīnivāsa granted this vara (boon): the vimāna would always stay unseen, but he himself would be seen by all. From that time the four-armed Bhagavān Śrīnivāsa, living in this vimāna, has been visible to all. (Chapter 3)

Bhagavān Śrīnivāsa also told Toṇḍamānadu that the vimāna, with its golden gopura (gateway tower), would be built in a later age by Nārāyaṇa, a descendant of Toṇḍamānadu’s line. (Chapter 10)

Sacred trees

Two trees on the mountain are under the personal protection of Bhagavān Śrīnivāsa. The tamarind tree (cinta-vṛksha) is his own abode. The campaka (sampega) tree is the abode of Lakshmī. All kings, ṛshis, devas and humans must bow to these trees. No one may cut them. (Chapter 10)

Bhagavān Varāha on the mountain

On the western bank of Svāmi Pushkariṇī, Bhagavān Varāha lives with Bhūdevī. The Vaikhānasa munis worship him there.

The Purāṇa also foretells an event. A white varāha, which is Bhagavān Vishṇu in the form of a boar, appears in the field of chāma grain belonging to Vasu the hunter. He enters an anthill (puṭṭa) near Svāmi Pushkariṇī. From that anthill he speaks to Toṇḍamānadu and tells him to build the prākāra (surrounding wall). (Chapters 1, 10)

The gathering of tīrthas on Veṅkaṭādri

All sixty-six crore tīrthas of the universe gather on Veṅkaṭādri at special lunar conjunctions. On the Uttarā Phālguṇī paurṇamī in Mīna māsa (when the sun is in Pisces), all the tīrthas gather at the Ghoṇa-tīrtha (also called Tumbu-tīrtha) on the mountain. In the same way, on the Chaitra paurṇamī of Mesha-saṃkramaṇa, all the tīrthas gather at Ākāśagaṅgā, where the narrative of Añjanā reaches its end. (Chapters 26, 39–40)

How worship grew at Veṅkaṭācala

A line of devotees set up worship at Veṅkaṭācala, one after another:

Vāyu: his tapas made Bhagavān Śrīnivāsa come down and live here for ever.
Agastya: he worshipped for twelve years and won the vara that Bhagavān Śrīnivāsa would be visible to all.
Kumārasvāmī (Subrahmaṇya): he lives at Kumāradhārikā and worships Bhagavān Śrīnivāsa at the three sandhyā times.
Rangadāsa, a hunter and devotee: he cleared the forest around the tree of Bhagavān Śrīnivāsa, planted flower gardens and built the stone wall.
Toṇḍamānadu: he built the prākāra with its gopura. Bhagavān Śrīnivāsa guided him through a vision and through the message of Vasu the hunter.
Śaṅkhu, a king of the Haihaya line: he performed tapas here and received direct darśana of Bhagavān Śrīnivāsa.

(Chapters 3, 9, 10, 37–38)

Sources

Skanda Mahā Purāṇa, Vaishṇava Khaṇḍa, Veṅkaṭācala Māhātmya, Chapters 1–40