What Makes Tirupati Balaji The World’s Richest Temple

Tirupati Balaji or Swamy Venkateswara Temple is one of the most popular temples in India and is known to be the richest temple in the world. The amount of donation being collected by this temple makes it the world’s richest temple.  However, there’s a religious reason behind the huge donations by pilgrims. Devotees from around the world book online tickets for Tirupati darshan so they can see their lord and make donations. Let us help you know the reason for huge donations in this temple.

As per the mythology, a loan of one crore and 11.4 million gold coins was taken by Balaji from Kubera for his marriage with Padmavathi. Devotees come from all around the world and donate money to pay back this loan. It is estimated that temple receives as much as Rs. 22.5 million per day as a donation. And Gold is donated as a token of love for the Lord. The temple is also the most visited religious place with around 50,000-100,000 devotees coming everyday and this number increases up to 500,000 during festivals or special days.

Another source of income for this temple is the famous ritual of hair tonsuring. Many devotees visit this place to get their hair shaved and this ritual is called ‘Mokku’. Devotees donate their hair at the temple as an offering to God. Behind this ritual also there’s a reason. It is said that, a shepherd hit Balaji on his head and a small part of Lord’s head became bald. A Gandharva princess saw this and thought such an attractive face should not be left with any flaw. So, she cut off a portion of her hair and implanted in on Balaji’s head with her magical power. Lord was so touched by her sacrifice that he promised her that all his devotees will offer their hair at his sanctorium and she will receive those hairs. Over a ton of hair is collected daily which is further sold by the temple authority to the international buyers through the mode of an auction held few times a year. This selling of hair also adds more than $ 6 million to the temple’s treasure.

Knowing so much about this temple will tempt you to visit Tirupati Balaji once. If you plan to visit this holy place you can book online tickets for Tirupati Darshan here.