About 100 families of Cheelapalle village of Gudipala mandal, 15 km from here, nurse the dream of renovating the 200-year-old temple, which is now a shambles. Vishnu is popularly known as Perumal among Tamil diaspora.
The dilapidated temple, which houses the idols of Lord Vishnu, Sridevi and Bhudevi, and Hanuman and Garuda, is located under a giant banyan tree. In the days of yore, during Brahmotsavams at Tirumala, devotees used to pass through the village in large numbers, embarking on walkathons from deep south (now Tamil Nadu). Popular belief is that some devotees found the idols near the village and consecrated all the five on a single pedestal, a unique feature.
Till five decades ago, the temple witnessed its glory, with the idols receiving traditional worship not only from travelling devotees, but from the local residents.
The elderly people observed that gradual decline of the traditional form of walkathons, and with devotees from the south resorting to road and train travel since the mid 20th century, the Perumal temple had slowly slipped into the oblivion.
Most of the families in Cheelapalle are small farmers. A couple of years ago, the villagers floated the idea of ‘jeernoddharana’ (renovation) of the temple at an estimated cost of about Rs.20 lakh.
B. Nageswara Rao, Chief Manager of Sapthagiri Grameena Bank at Chittoor, who is native of Cheelapalle, raised the temple issue with senior officials of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) and the Endowments Department.
“Though we have plans for renovation of the temple, raising funds is not possible, as people in our village are small farmers. It is painful to see the ancient idols receiving name-sake pujas in this dilapidated temple, when Lord Venkateswara temple at Tirumala is basking in rich glory. We have arranged ‘dhoopa-deepa-naivedyam’ proceedings at the temple every morning, and special pujas during Tirumala Brahmotsavams, every year,” Mr. Rao said.
Almost all the ancient temples in rural areas in Chittoor district have witnessed the greed of treasure hunters during the last two centuries. Several temple structures built since the 9th and 10th centuries have been damaged.
The highlight of the Perumal temple here is that no treasure hunter has dared to bring his crowbar near its vicinity and the stone dwajasthambam in front of the temple is in tact. Another phenomenal feature is the banyan tree, which forms the natural shade, is considered the gift of the Lord. “Along with the temple, the banyan tree is also our heritage,” they maintain.
Responding to the villagers’ appeal for renovation, a team of TTD officials conducted inspections at the temple in recent months.
Villagers turn to Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, Endowments Department for help
