Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams

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Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (Telugu: తిరుమల తిరుపతి దేవస్థానములు) is an independent trust which manages the Tirupathi Venkateshwara Temple at Tirumala - Tirupati. The chairman of the board is nominated by the state government of Andhra Pradesh. This richest Hindu temple is the second most visited religious center after Vatican City. About 60,000 to 150,000 devotees visit the temple complex every day for the auspicious darshan (visit) of the deity donating nearly $2 million every month.

Complex queueing theories and emerging technologies have been evaluated and implemented to manage the large and unmanageable crowds by the TTD. The deity has also over 1000 kg of gold and diamond jewellery, making it one of the richest temple treasures. TTD has procured machines from MICO BOSCH to automate the making of Laddus, a sweet which is offered as Lord's prasadam.

The TTD's stated goals include the restoration of Sanathana Dharma, reviving various failing temples of South India and running Hindu schools and parishats.

1 Darshan Queue System at Tirumala
2 Facts
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Darshan Queue System at Tirumala

Tirumala possibly has the most elaborate arrangement in India to sequence and guide visiting devotees through the holy shrine. Due to the ever increasing rush of devotees during all 365 days in a year, the temple authorities (Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams) have set-up a virtual queue system. This has resulted in a steep drop in time that individual devotees need to spend within the Queque Complex leading to the main temple.

Individual devotees are required to register at any of the many queue offices situated near the main shrine, at the local rail and bus stations, at TTD offices in other key cities like Hyderabad and others like Chennai where most devotees come in from. On registration, devotees are provided with a bar-coded wristband with the expected time of entry into the Queue Complex. Recently TTD (Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams) started using biometrics. People need to provide their fingerprints while they're registering themselves for Darshan. This will eliminate the involvement of middlemen, who sell the tickets in black. Devotees contributing for Special Darshan or Puja Darshan tickets are moved up the queue virtually. All devotees are treated equally from the point of entry into the Queue Complex.

Typically, devotees spend between 60 to 180 minutes going through the Queue complex, depending on the season. The delay is the maximum on weekends, festival periods and special temple puja periods. The best day to visit the temple is Thursday, just before the weekend rush.

[edit] Facts

This is the second most visited religious center after Vatican City. About 60,000 to 150,000 devotees visit the temple complex every day for the auspicious darshan (visit) of the deity.
Donations given by devotees equal nearly $2 million every month. *Complex queueing theories and emerging technologies have been evaluated and implemented to manage the large and unmanageable crowds.
Laddu, a sweet, is offered as Lord's prasadam. TTD has procured machines from MICO BOSCH to automate the making of Laddus.