The Third All India Students’ Conference on Science & Spiritual Quest (AISSQ 2007) will be held at Tirupati during 22-23 December 2007. The conference Venue will be one of the auditoriums located at the city of Tirupati. The conference Venue, Tirupati is one of the most popular tourist and pilgrimage destinations of India and hosts world’s richest temple dedicated to Lord Sri Venkateswara (Balaji) on magnificent Tirumala Hills. With its wonderful spiritual as well as picturesque atmosphere, Tirupati is anticipated to infuse tremendous inspiration to all conference participants. The weather in December is most pleasant at Tirupati.
About Tirupati The temple town of Tirupati at the foot of Tirumala hills situated in Chittoor District of Andhra Pradesh, came into existence in the middle of twelfth century, with the founding of Govindarajaswamy temple. Apart from Tirumala, Govindarajaswamy temple, Kapila Tirtham and Rama temple are the other sacred places at Tirupati. Some other places worth visiting around Tirupati are the temple of the Goddess Padmavati Devi - the divine consort of Lord Venkateshwara at Tiruchanur, the Fort at Chandragiri built in 1000 AD and improved upon by the Vijayanagara kings and the two palaces in the vicinity formerly used by the members of the royal family and Kalyana Venkateshwaraswamy temple at Srinivasamangapuram 12 km from Tirupati.
Tirumala Hills The picturesque Tirumala hills comprises of seven peaks, representing the seven hoods of Audisesha (Divine Serpent), thus earning the name Seshachalam. The seven peaks are called Seshadri, Vedadri, Garudadri, Anjandri, Vrishabhadri, Narayandri and Venkatadri (Adri in sanskrit means Hill). The Venkatachalam hill is believed to be a part of the celestial mount meru, brought to the earth from Vaikuntam by Sri Garuda.The sacred temple of Sri Venkateswara is located on the seventh peak, Venkatdri and there are several legends associated with the manifestation of the lord in Tirumala.
Shrine of Lord Sri Venkateswara (Balaji) The shrine of the lord is very ancient and there are ample references to it in the early inscriptions belonging to the Chola and Pallava periods as well in the Sangam literature. The abode of the lord is about 10 Km north-west of Tirupati and there are footsteps leading to the hill as well as two separate serpentine roads to reach the shrine. According to legend, God Vishnu revealed himself earlier in the previous incarnations as Varahaswamy on the banks of the present temple tank. This manifestation of the white boar (Sveta Varaham) is enshrined in the Adi Varahaswany temple situated on the northeastern banks of the tank. For Further Information, please visit http://www.tirumala.org