A Brief Biography Of Sri Venkateswara

The main idol of Sri Venkateswara is said to be swayambhu or self-manifested, and in existence for more than 1700 years. Although there are no clear historical evidences, Thondaman or Thondaiman, the Pallava dynasty ruler of the ancient Thondai Mandalam or Thondainadu kingdom with his capital at the present-day Kanchipuram, just south-east of modern day Chennai, is believed to have first built the temple after visualizing Lord Vishnu in his dream. He built the gopuram and the prakaram, and arranged for regular worship to be conducted in the temple. Later on the Pallava kings and Chola dynasty (between 7th and 10th century CE) vastly improved the temple and gave rich endowments. Some of this information is found in ancient Tamil literary script
In the meantime the region around Tirupati was gradually conquered and brought under the rule of Golkonda (Hyderabad). In 1740 CE the Marathas invaded the Carnatic under Raghoji Bhonsle and defeated and killed Nawab Dost Ali and his son in the battle at Damalacheruvu. Then Dost Ali’s another son Safdar Ali, sued for peace from Vellore fortress and Raghoji Bhonsle agreed to retire on payment of one crore rupees. During this time Safdar Ali visited the temple and made valuable offerings to the Lord. These include one string of pearls with a pendent of a flat ruby inlaid in a flat etched emerald. These jewels are still preserved in the temple in “Raghojivari pette” (box). Sadatulla Khan was appointed in October 1713 as the Nawab of Deccan and Golkonda countries by the Mughal rulers. He appointed one Todarmalji, who was considered to wield the greatest influence with him, to look after the Tirumala temple. The statues of Todarmal with his mother and wife are in the Tirumala temple, from which one may infer that he did some real good to the temple during his life time. As Tirumala Devasthanam received enormous wealth through gifts and endowments, its income drew the attention of many of the
An article says that the gross income of Tirumala temple was Rs. 1, 02,000 for the year 1820 and Rs.1, 47,000 for 1822 and the expenditure for the temple was Rs. 20,000. Pilgrims who paid donations or fees for sevas were given preference for darshan. Fees were fixed for sevas as Brahmotsavam: Re.1, Pulangi seva: 50 paise, Addala seva: Rs.2 and so on. In the middle of the 19th century, the British rulers desired to relinquish their connection with the religious institutions. The government of Lord Auckland decided to hand over the management of the lands and control of funds and affairs of all religious endowments and accordingly on 21st April 1843, Mahant Sri Sevadas of Sri Hathiramji Math was designated to carry on the management of temples at Tirupati and Tirumala. Much valuable work was done by the British civilian officers in systematizing the accounts, regulating the establishment, and ascertaining and registering the lands, grants, monetary income, etc. There remained a balance of Rs. 40 lakhs with the company in 1843. But the government after vague replies denied having any account balance at