Krishna Devaraya and Tirumala temple

 Krishna Devaraya and Tirumala temple :   Krishna Deva rays ( 1471 to 1529 AD ) the ruler of Vijaya nagar is a fond devotee of lord Venkateswara . He visited Tirumala seven times during his 20 year rule . He used to give numerous gifts to the Lord.  His statue and two of his consorts are found in the temple . . Krishna Deva married 12 times . But usually only 3 wives are mentioned . After each conquest he used to come to the temple and give numerable gifts . For instance he defeated Prataparudra . Gajapathi in Udaya Giri  in 1512 AD and gave  numerous gold  coins and others as  gifts . . He again defeated  prataparudra Gajapathi in kondaveedu . Numerous inscriptions written mention his contributions  and the contribution of queen Tirumala Devi to the Lord . The temple was constructed may be around 3 rd century AD . In 8 th century AD king Tondeman , the pallava king built a formal temple and the prakaram . Ever since the temple received the patronage of cholas , pandyas and Vijaya nagar kings . Krishna Deva raya built other temples such as virupaksha temple in Hampi. According to porugese accounts he used to raise early , perform weight lifting exercises and attend to his duties . He used to actively fight in the war along with his soldiers . Mughal emperor Babur felt he is the most powerful ruler in south India . He defeated Bijapur , Golconda  the Bahmani sultanate  and the Gajaoathis of odisha  . The Gajapathi king gave his daughter  Annapurna Devi   in marriage to Krishnafevarya . The Gajapathis were  allowed to rule north of Krishna river . He wrote Amuktamalyada  in telugu . He knows kannada , Tamil , telugu , Sanskrit languages . 2) he maintained friendly relations with the Portuguese in Goa in 1510 AD . He obtained horses and guns  from them . With their help he improved the water supply system in the Vijaya nagar capital . 3) The Muslim conquerors never invaded the rich temple for looting  because of various factors including terrain . 4) the management of the temple was in various hands such as the kings mentioned above and the Mahants for six generations   The Maratha general  Bhonsale  conceptualists a plan to create a permanent body to afminister the temple .This ultimately  might have resulted in   the TTD  taking over it’s management in 1933 . 5) The temple has a rich history spanning over nearly two millennia . It is difficult to imagine how many crores of devotees visited the great shrine during this period .