Tirupati, Feb 3 (IANS) In a bid to promote Sanatana Hindu Dharma, the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) will build 500 Lord Venkateshwara Swamy temples in the Telugu states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
“The TTD is committed to build 500 temples of Sri Venkateswara Swamy across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana as part of its agenda to promote Sanatana Hindu Dharma,” TTD executive officer K.S. Jawahar Reddy said on Wednesday.
Reddy said the TTD will push ahead with its temple building activity in collaboration with the Samarasata Seva Foundation and the Sanskriti Samvardini in the second phase.
Praising the activities of the Samarasata Seva Foundation, which runs the Bala Vikas Kendras, Reddy advised the temple officials to dispatch devotional and patriotic TTD publications to them.
He also directed the officials to conduct special training on Shodasha Samskaras for ‘archakas’ (priests) working in remote SC, ST and fishermen colonies.
Further, the senior IAS officer said that TTD aims to perform the Srinivasa Kalyanam fete in the already built 500 temples in the Telugu states under the aegis of the Srinivasa Kalyanam project.
For the new temples, Reddy said proposals will be submitted during the next executive committee meeting of HDPP by the Samarasata Seva Foundation and the Samskriti Samvardi for approvals, including TTD fund raising of Rs 10 lakh for each temple’s construction.
The executive officer said both the organisations will be responsible for zeroing in on the land parcels for these temples.
Likewise, Reddy said the temple authority has also geared up new ‘Dharma Rathas’ (religious chariots) to propagate Hindu religion, which will be fanned across the villages where the 500 temples have already been built and asked the officials to prepare a route map for the purpose.
“Srivari devotees in these remote villages with temples will be provided with an opportunity to serve as Srivari Sevakulu at Tirumala,” he said.
Similarly, Reddy also directed the temple officials to prepare an action plan to promote religious programmes at all TTD Kalyana Mandapams.
Meanwhile, Reddy called upon all the Dasa devotees to come forward and join hands with the TTD to bring out the valuable Dasa Padagalu in the form of a compilation under the name of TTD as Dasa Sahitya Sarvaswam.
Reviewing the Dasa Sahitya project with the officials, Reddy said lakhs of Kannada Dasa Padas are yet to see the light of day.
TTD aims to publish the tens of thousands of sankeerthans available in universities, libraries and with the successors of Kannada Dasas in Karnataka in the form of a book which could be useful to many.
“The pundits who participated in the meeting told the EO that they will definitely put their efforts in bringing out the sankeertans. They sought wide publicity through SVBC and the media for this divine mission,” said a TTD official.
Agreeing with the pundits, Reddy said Vijay Mutalik, an ardent devotee from Bengaluru, will act as a coordinator.
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