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Tirupati

Tirupati, situated at the Eastern Ghats' foothills, is an important pilgrimage centre of the state of Andhra Pradesh. It lies close to the Tirupati Temple, which is located in the hills of Tirumala. The temple attracts millions of devotees every year and is one of the most visited pilgrimage centres of the world.

The source of the origin of the name is not very clear, but it is believed that the word Tirupati comes from the amalgamation of two words - Thiru and Pati. Thiru is a Tamil word which means 'respectable' while Pati translates to 'husband'. Thus, the literal meaning of Tirupathi comes out to be 'respectable husband'.

The hills of Tirumala, which lie close to the city centre, are the second oldest rock mountains in the world. There is no historical evidence to suggest who built the Tirupati Temple, but it has come to be controlled and upgraded by many rulers over the years since the 4th century AD. The temple of Tirupati, unlike the other temples of South India, was able to ward off the invasions by Muslim rulers in the 14th and the 15th century.

Most of the revenue of Tirumala comes from the pilgrimage to the Tirupati Temple. However, of late, many small and medium industries have sprung up in the city because of the concerted efforts of the government to promote industrialisation. Some of the popular industrial units that have been established here in the recent past are Railway Carriage Repair Shop, Amararaja Power Systems and Lanco Industries.

Apart from the Tirupati Temple, Tirupati also has the Sri Venkateshwara Zoological Park, which houses birds and animals of various species. Other places of tourist interest in the region include the Padmavati Temple, the Govindaraja Temple, Srinivasa Mangapuram and Shilatoranam, which is a rock garden.

Tirupati experiences extreme climate, with summer temperatures ranging from 40-43° Celsius while the winter temperatures hover around 15-18° Celsius.

The city is well connected by rail, road and air. The city has an airport which serves direct flights from Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai as well as Bangalore. It also has a well equipped railway station which connects it to all the major cities of India. A number of buses ply from Tirupati as well as the Tirumala Hills to the adjacent cities of Chennai, Vizag, Bangalore and Hyderabad.