Visit to Sridevi Bhudevi Sameta Sri Prasanna Venkateswara Swamy Temple, Thondamanadu, Andhra Pradesh

27th May 2024 - Day 3 and last day of our Tirumala trip. The departure time of our flight from Tirupati to Hyderabad was 8.30 p.m. Morning we got down to Tirupati and had the darshan of Sree Govinda Raju Swamy and then we headed to Srikalahasti. As it was peak season, these temples were heavily crowded with devotees and being summer it was terribly hot. Somehow we managed to have the nice darshan of Sri Kalahasteeswara and Gyana Prasunamba Devi and then had free anna prasadam which was served hot. The free annadanam hall was not that clean and people of all classes sitting together which we found a bit difficult to adjust.

As there are enough time in hand, we planned to visit the less known Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple at Thondamandu / Thondamanpuram which is the only temple in the world where Sri Venkateswara Swamy is in sitting posture along with Sridevi and Bhudevi on either side. It is known as Sridevi Bhudevi Sameta Sri Prasanna Venkateswara Swamy temple which is on the way to Tirupati airport at a distance of around 7 Km from Srikalahasti.

It's a remote place far away from the highway.

We reached the place by 4.30 p.m and believe, only we were there in the temple other than the security persons and temple priest. The place was very peaceful with no crowd and vast stretch of fields in the surroundings. It was peak summer and terribly hot but the ambiance in the temple was very calm and there was breeze due to open fields. We spent sometime at this place and as we were about to move out, we saw few other devotees coming to the temple.

Temple History / Sthala Puranam

Thondamandu aka Thondamanpuram is a holy place where Sri Venkateswara Swamy alongwith Sridevi and Bhudevi appeared in front of Thondaman Chakravarthi who was an ardent devotee of Sri Venkateswara Swamy. Thondaman Chakravarthy is the brother of Akasaraju who is the father of Padmavati Ammavaru and father-in-law of Sri Venkateswara Swamy. Akasaraju ruled over Thondamandalam with Narayanapuram aka Narayanavanam as his capital. After the death of Akasaraju, his son Vasudasa fought with Thodaman Chakravarthy for the kingdom. Padmavati Devi wanted Sri Venkateswara Swamy to support Vasudasa, her brother. But Thondaman Chakravarthy was His dear devotee, so Sri Venkateswara Swamy made a peace treaty between the two. He divided the kingdom into two parts and Narayanapuram was given to Vasudasa while Tundarimandalam i.e. Thondamandalam was given to Thondaman Chakravarthy.

As per legend, Thondaman Chakravarthy built Sri Venkateswara temple at Tirumala and he used to go to the temple everyday for worship. As years passed by, it became difficult for Thondaman Chakravarthy to visit Tirumala temple everyday due to his old age. He grew so old that he was confined to bed and was feeling extremely sad for he could not daily visit Tirumala temple. On seeing His dear devotee's sad state, Sri Venkateswara Swamy along with Sridevi and Bhudevi came down all the way from Tirumala to Thondamanadu and gave His darshan to Thodaman Chakravarthy. And as the king was lying on bed due to his old age and couldn't get up to have the darshan of Swamivaru, Sri Venkateswara Swamy along with Sridevi and Bhudevi sat down so that Their dear devotee can have Their darshane and thus made Thondaman Chakravarthy, happy.

And as per the request of Thondaman Chakravarthy, Sri Venkateswara Swamy along with His divine consorts stayed at this place. And thus the temple of Sridevi Bhudevi Sameta Sri Prasanna Venkateswara Swamy temple at Thondamanadu came into existence. As Sri Venkateswara Swamy made His devotee happy by giving him darshan, He is known as Prasanna Venkateswara Swamy at this place. The uniqueness of the temple is that Sri Venkateswara is in sitting posture in this temple which we cannot see in any other temple.

This is a small temple with Raja Gopuram in the main entrance. On entering inside, there is Dhwaja sthambham and a flight of steps to garbha griha (gudi). Inside the garbha griha there is an extremely beautiful black vigraham of Sri Venkteswara Swamy in sitting posture having four hands with sankham, chakram in hind two hands and fore two hands are in yogamudra and abhaya hastam. Sridevi and Bhudevi are seated on either side of Sri Venkateswara Swamy.

There is a belief that unmarried people who wish to get married, if visit this temple and pray whole-heartedly, they will have a happy married life. So also married couple who visit this temple and pray sincerely, will enjoy their married life. Beliefs apart, it is true that anyone who visit this temple and pray sincerely, will enjoy a happy life as Sridevi Bhudevi Sameta Sri Prasanna Venkateswara Swamy descended to this place particularly to make His devotees happy.

This small place Thondamanadu is very remote and far far away from the maddening crowd. People who are disgusted with the daily hustle-bustle, hurry-burry, stressful city life, if visit this place are sure to have a peace of mind in this calm and serene surroundings with no crowd, no traffic, no sound pollution.

This is one of the must-go temples near Tirupati. OM NAMO VENKATESAYA!