RTI quizzes Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam on Lord Venkateswara’s debt
TTD administration yet to respond to query
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2014-12-14 06:52 GMT
Tirupati: A rather strange RTI query has been made by an RTI activist to the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam which administers the ancient temple of Lord Venkateswara at Tirumala, seeking information on the status of loan borrowed by Lord Venkateswara from the God of wealth Lord Kubera at the time of his wedding to Goddess Padmavati devi.
While the temple administration is yet to respond to the RTI query, the RTI applicant T. Narasimha Murthy, a human rights activist based in Bangaluru has approached the Andhra Pradesh information commission with his appeal to direct the TTD to part with the information sought by him.
Speaking to this newspaper on Saturday, Mr Narasimha Murthy alleged that the TTD was trying to hoodwink the people with a mythological story. Stating that the temple administration which is only a mere custodian of the wealth of Lord Venkateswara.
Mr Murthy noted that TTD needs to be accountable to the devotees who contribute to its coffers. “While TTD is earning thousands of crores of rupees each year through the proceeds of hundi, sale of prasadam and darshan tickets, sale of human hair, accommodation and various other forms, how is it that Lord Venkateswara is still indebted to Kubera?” questioned the RTI activist.
Alleging that TTD has been all these years trying to hoodwink the devotees by stating that Lord Venkateswara is still paying back only interest for the principal amount he borrowed from Kubera from the proceeds of the Tirumala hundi, observed Mr Murthy, adding that the claims of the TTD was a complete farce and the systems lacked transparency.
The RTI activist said that he was intrigued by the claims of the temple administration which prompted him to shoot of an RTI query to the TTD, seeking information to the loan borrowed by the Lord of the seven hills. Meanwhile, with the TTD not responding to his query for a long time, Mr Murthy filed an appeal under Sec 19(1) of the RTI Act.
Interest on loan till end of kaliyug:
Although the RTI query of Narasimha Murthy seeking information from the TTD relating to the status of loan borrowed by Lord Venkateswara from Lord Kubera at the time of his wedding, has created a flutter in the TTD circles, the Lord of the riches is to repay interest on his loan to Lord Kubera till the Kaliyuga, according to Hindu mythology.
According to sources at the Tirumala temple and at Sri venkat-eswara vedic university, venkatachala mahatmy-am quotes that Lord Ven-kateswara an incarnation of Lord Sri Mahavishnu, after parting ways with his consort goddess Sri Mahalakshmi left Vaikuntam and reached Tirupati and continued to do penance in an anthill.
Later the impoverished Lord Venkateswara found solace under the care of his foster mother Vakula Devi. When the Lord fell in love with Goddess Padmavati Devi, the daug-hter of the then king Aka-sa Raja, the foster mother of Lord Venkateswara approached the king with the marriage proposal for the divine couple.
The King questioned Vakula Devi about the financial status of Lord Venkate-swara and the money they had for the wedding which would be attended by emperors, kings, devas and celestial beings from across the universe.
So Lord Venkateswara was forced to take a huge loan from Lord Kubera, in order to meet his wedding expenses. And while taking the loan from Kubera, the Lord had promised to pay interest to the loan till the end of Kaliyuga.