Travel

 Tirumala is a Hindu religious temple town in Tirupati district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is one of the neighbourhoods of the Tirupati city. The town is a part of Tirupati Urban Development Authority and located in Tirupati urban mandal of Tirupati revenue division. The town is strictly vegetarian. It is a hill town where Tirumala Venkateswara Temple is located, a popular shrine of Vishnu. Vishnu is believed to reside here with his full power, as in Vaikuntha, and thus the place is also called Bhuloka Vaikuntha.

Etymology

The word Tirumala is of Tamil origin. The term Tiru means sacred or holy, and Mala means mountain or hill. The prefix Tiru or Thiru is a widely recognised Tamil word and is used in many South Indian place names.

Geography

Spotted deer in the park

Tirumala is located 980 metres 3,200 ft above sea level and covers an area of approximately 26.8 square kilometres 10.33 sq mi. Surrounding the hills are seven peaks of the Seshachalam range of Eastern Ghats namely Seshadri, Neeladri, Garudadri, Anjanadri, Vrushabadri, Narayanadri, and Venkatadri. The temple of Venkateswara is on the seventh peak Venkatadri.

At the 12 km 7.5 mi point on the Tirupati – Tirumala Ghat road, there is a major discontinuity of stratigraphic significance that represents a period of remarkable serenity in the geological history of the Earth. This is referred to as the Eparchaean Unconformity. This unconformity separates the Nagari Quartzite of the Proterozoic from the granite of the Archean, representing a time gap of 800 Mya. In 2001, the Geological Survey of India GSI declared the Eparchaean Unconformity to be one of the 26 "Geological Monuments of India".

Silathoranam natural arch at Tirumala Hills, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh

Silathoranam, a natural arch and a distinctive geological wonder, is located in Tirumala Hills at a distance of 1 km 0.62 mi from the Tirumala Venkateswara Temple. The arch measures 8 m 26 ft in width and 3 m 9.8 ft metres in height and is eroded out of quartizite of Cuddapah Supergroup of Middle to Upper Proterozoic 1600 to 570 Mya by weathering agents such as water and wind.

Climate

Deer park near Alipiri Mettu

Tirumala has a humid subtropical climate designated Cwa, with dry winters under the Köppen climate classification. As the hill shrine is situated amidst the hills, the temperature will go below 10 degrees Centigrade in winter. Summers are not as hot here, especially compared to Tirupati. The southwest monsoon season starts from June, but rains are not heavy. Occasionally, thunderstorms form and downpours may persist for hours. Pertaining to orographic relief, the northeast monsoon remains active over the region for 2 months. It causes flooding. The highest 24-hour rainfall on record was 459 mm 18.1 in on 23 November 2005, followed by 307 mm 12.1 in on 9 November 2015.