Tirumala: Sacred Foods of God
- Hardbound
- Author : A.V. Ramana Dikshitulu and Kota Neelima
- Year of Publication: 2017
- Language: English
- Number of Pages: 176
- Number of Books : 1
The ritual of offering food or Naivedyam to Lord Venkateshwara – a manifestation of Lord Vishnu – at the Tirumala Temple has existed since eternity, when Lord Vishnu decided to descend on Earth in the archa form or as an Deity that can be worshipped. He commissioned Sage Vaikhanasa to prepare the ancient religious text ‘Agama Shastra’, which gives an elaborate description of the rituals to be conducted in the Tirumala Temple, the ingredients to be used to prepare prasadams, procedures for a priest to follow, precautions to be taken and the Veda mantras to be recited at each step.
This volume gives an inside view of the ancient rituals of offering food to Lord Venkateshwara, which even today are practised according to the procedures prescribed by the Agama Shastra. It provides detailed descriptions of the various kinds of food offerings made, with specifications about the quantity, ingredients, preparation, variety of food and particular times when they should be served. The book covers all the food offerings made to the Lord Venkateshwara from morning till evening, offerings made on festivals and special days.
- The highest authority in the Temple at Tirumala, Acharya Dikshitulu presents, for the first time, the most comprehensive research on foods offered at the Temple.
- Explaining the elaborate processes of offering food at the Temple at Tirumala, co-author Kota Neelima demystifies the philosophy and rationale behind this age-old tradition.
- Tirumala: Foods of God outlines the practice of offering food to the Lord, as specified by the Agama Shastra, the ancient science of rituals.
- The book provides detailed step-by-step recipes to prepare the various prasadams offered at the Tirumala Temple. Through illustrations, it shows the processes to prepare popular prasadams. The book also highlights the significance of every ingredient used in the prasadams.
- It gives the history of the earliest practices of food offering by kings and their dynasties at the Tirumala Temple, as mentioned in the inscriptions engraved on the walls of the Temple
