Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao fought really hard for the formation of a separate state of Telangana, and during his fight for the state, he promised that he would transform the famous Yadagiri Gutta, now known as Yadadri, and develop it on par with the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams.
Now, the development of the Yadadri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple is nearing completion, and is expected to be available to the public within 2 or 3 months. A whopping Rs. 1,800 Crores have been invested in this project byt the Telangana government. The temple premises has now been expanded to 4 acres, from the previous 2,500 Square Yards.
In 2016, the Yadadri Temple Development Authority (YTDA) was formed for the purpose of overseeing the development works of the temple, and Kishan Rao, who is a part of this committee has said that black granite stone , known as Krishnashila, has been procured from Prakasam district, for the foundation of the temple.
Art director B Anand Sai created the masterplan for the temple, under the guidance of Chinna Jeeyar Swamy. Agama, Vasthu and Pancharatha shastras are said to have been incorporated into constructing the temple.
The original cave temple has not been tampered with, and a seven-storied sapthathala maharaja gopuram has been constructed over this cave temple right now. Over 500 sculptors were hired to sculpt hundreds of idols all around the temple complex, and many craftsmen were brought from Mahabalipuram in Tamil Nadu.
This temple has had its own share of controversies, when Chief Minister KCR’s face and symbols of the TRS were found carved on some pillars of the temple. The BJP, Congress and several other parties strongly objected to this, and the government made sure to remove all of those pillars to avoid a major issue, and made sure that no symbols except temple symbols were carved on the temple pillars.
Yadadri is situated just 50 KMs from Hyderabad, which would mean that there would be a lot of devotees visiting the temple. This would mean a high level of tourism for the temple as well. Apart from this, the Gandi lake is expected to be developed to organise the annual Teppotsavam.
Seasoned goldsmiths from Pembarthy may be brought in to provide gold cover to the Rajagopuram and the main gates, according to Chief Minister KCR’s vision.