Date : 08-02-2023
India is the land of many cultures and religions and mysteries. Many religions here have their own cultures. Especially Hindu religion believes in many gods and goddesses. That is why this land is called mother earth.
You might be surprised by the name ‘visa god.’ You might be thinking that we all know many gods but which god is this visa god? Yes, there is a temple named Chilkur Balaji Temple, popularly known as “Visa Balaji Temple”. It is an ancient Hindu Temple of Lord Balaji on the banks of Osman Sagar in the Rangareddy District of Telangana. It is one of the oldest temples in the district built during the time of Madanna and Akkanna, the uncles of Bhakta Ramadas.
The temple has more than 500 years of history. This temple has no hundi and neither accepts any money from devotees. This is one of the special temples in India with no green channel or privileges for VIPs. The temple has over 75,000 to lakh devotees paying a visit every week, with a major rush on Fridays and Sundays.
Chilkur Balaji Temple first gained its reputation in the 1980s when a group of software engineering students claimed to have received visas to the US after visiting the shrine.
During a visit, the devotee goes through the usual rituals of prayer, including 11 circumambulations of the inner shrine, and makes a vow. Once the wish is fulfilled devotees then walk 108 times around the sanctum sanctorum. The majority of wishes by devotees are visa-related, thus Chilkur Balaji is also referred to as ‘Visa Balaji.’
According to the rituals, people who want to get a visa, visit the temple and offer prayers to the deity leaving with a promise of returning and taking 108 rounds or parikrama once they get their visa. And people say whoever wishes this and comes here will surely return because they will get a visa pretty soon.
As per a report in 2015, US had issued the highest number of visa’s to people of Hyderabad, maybe this is because of merit luck or the grace of visa Balaji.
