Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) executive officer (EO) AV Dharma Reddy is set to visit Sri Lanka to finalise the site where a temple of Lord Venkateswara Swamy will be built. He will leave for the island nation on March 29 and is expected to stay there for four to five days. He will also establish a permanent setup of the temple administration.

According to senior TTD officials, a Sri Lanka-based Trust had approached the Union government through the Government of Sri Lanka, seeking help in the construction of a massive Hindu temple of Lord Venkateswara in their country.

The TTD was apprised of the matter. Subsequently, the Temple Trust approved the construction of the temple in Colombo in a step towards disseminating Hindu dharma.

Dharma Reddy was scheduled to leave for Sri Lanka on March 2, but it was postponed to March 26 and later to March 29, due to some administrative reasons. End of the financial year is often hectic for the Srivari Trust.

According to TTD sources, once the site for the proposed temple is finalised and designs are prepared, the idols for the main temple and sub-temples will be provided by the TTD. They will be sculpted at the TTD-run Sri Venkateswara College of Traditional Sculpture and Architecture in Tirupati.

The Trust will also provide temple motifs and other paraphernalia associated with the temple’s structure, administration, and rituals.

Focus will reportedly be on creating an administrative set up for the proposed temple in the island country on the lines of the Srivari Temple Trust in Tirumala.

Source: The New Indian Express

--Agencies