01White marble on a black rock
Naubat Pahad is the hill where, in the time of the Qutb Shahis, drums were beaten to announce royal orders. On it the Birla Foundation raised, between 1966 and 1976, a temple of some 2,000 tonnes of white Rajasthani marble, joining southern and northern styles: a gopuram-like gateway in the manner of the south, and a shikhara over the sanctum. The murti of Venkateswara is about 11 feet tall, a likeness of Tirumala’s. Swami Ranganathananda of the Ramakrishna Mission performed the consecration in 1976.
02No bells
The temple was built without bells, by design, so that devotees could sit in quiet; there is no paid darshan. Around the main shrine are smaller shrines of Padmavathi, Andal, Shiva, Shakti, Ganesh, Hanuman, Brahma, Saraswati, Lakshmi and Sai Baba, and the walls carry verses of the Gita and the Upanishads. At dusk the white temple is lit above the lake and can be seen from much of the city.
The life of this place
- 1966Construction begins on Naubat Pahad.
- 1976Swami Ranganathananda consecrates the temple.
Near Lakdi-ka-pul and the Telangana Secretariat in central Hyderabad. Phones and footwear are left at the gate.
