The Glory of Brahmotsavas of Lord Sri Venkateswara

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Lord Venkateswara is the God of Kaliyuga (the epoch of Kali). Leaving Vaikuntha, Srimannarayana incarnated himself on Venkatadri as Srinivasa to bless his devotees and do good to the worlds. He incarnated himself in Sravana nakshatra in the Kanya masa. To commemorate this auspicious day, Lord Brahma with the consent of Srinivasa commenced celebration of great festival to Srinivasa for nine days in Kanyamasa (September – October) starting from Dhwajarohana till Dhwajavarohana. From that day, the annual festival has come to be known as Brahmotsava. This is the biggest and longest hoary festival period among the hoard of gala worships done to the Hill God day in and day out.

The hill, on which Lord Srinivasa incarnated himself, is named Venkata. The Lord of that hill, Srinivasa, came to be known as Venkatesa which in popular parlance, became famous as Venkateswara.

This book, on the glory of Brahmotsavas, resourcefully wrought out in Telugu by Dr. K.V. Raghavacharya, Research officer of the project of Srivenkateswara Literature is now translated into English by Dr. T. Viswanatha Rao, professor in English from Kakinada.

I believe that readers and devotees of Sri Venkateswara would enjoy reading this and obtain the divine blessings of Srinivasa.

The Brahmotsava is prominent among the festivals being celebrated for Srivenkateswara. This is being celebrated as a nine day festival, fixing avabritha [Holy dip of the disc or Chakrasnana] in Star Sravana during the Kanya Masa. Brahma organized it as Mahimotsava. Hence it is called Brahmotsava. The word Brahma is symbolic of the number nine as per the Dictionary of Symbols in Sanskrit. This festival has come to be known finally as Brahmotsava as it is celebrated from the installation of the flag post to the lowering of the flag post, for nine days. In this essay, the history and car services with their speciality of the annual Brahmotsava in Tirumala have been pictorially illustrated and explained. The decoration with once-worn garlands, on the day of service of Garuda during these festivities and the speciality of traditions established by Srikrishnaraya, have been explained. The details of the celebrations of the Brahmotsavas as they are described by Tallapaka Annamacharya, Tarigonda Vengamamba, Sreshthaluri Venkatarya and others, are included. Tirumala Brahmotsavas as it has been described by a British officer in an essay published from Calcutta in Asiatic Journal in 1831, is also referred to, in this work. I hope that this work in literature on Venkateswara will prove to be a source of joy and knowledge to all the devotees and believers.