Who is Govindaraja and how is he related to Venkateshwara?

Question

Tirupati is most commonly associated with the world-renowned Tirumala Venkateshwara Temple. But there is another Vishnu temple in Tirupati, the Govindaraja Swami Temple. (This isn't the only Govindaraja temple; there's also one in Chidambaram.) As I understand it, the story of the temple goes roughly as follows: when Venkateshwara (the Vishnu deity in Tirupati, AKA Srinivasa or Balaji) wanted to marry Padmavathi, he got a large loan from Kubera (the god of wealth) to pay for the wedding expenses. Afterwards, Govindaraja, an elder brother of Venkateshwara and another form of Vishnu, helped Venkateshwara by counting the money. He spent a long time weighing the gold on a giant scale until he fell asleep on the scale itself, which is how the statue looks in the temple.

My questions are;

• Who is this Govindaraja?
• What does it mean to say that he is Venkateshwara's elder brother?
• Was he a son of Venkateshwara's foster mother Vakuladevi?
• I wasn't aware that Vakuladevi had any biological children or was even married. I just thought Vishnu came to the house of Vakuladevi when she was an elderly woman living alone, but was she a widow or something? (Presumably if she had a husband he would be the next birth of Nandagopa, just as she was the next birth of Yashoda.)
• Or was Vakuladevi a foster mother to Govindaraja just as she was a foster mother to Venkateshwara?
• Is anything else known about Govindaraja other than this gold-counting story, for instance how and why Vishnu took an incarnation as Govindaraja?

Answer 1

So according to sthalapurana (local story) when lord Venkateswara come to Tirupathi hills, he visited Vakuladevi, and she became his foster mother. As you already explained this is linked to Dwapara yuga where Krishna promises Yashoda that in next life he will let her do his marriage, and Yashoda reborn as Vakuladevi. Vakuladevi is a maiden and did not have any sons. One story is Krishna's elder brother Balarama reborn as Govindaraja. Govindaraja helped in organising all the money for Srinivasa's marriage. He is also foster son of Vakuladevi. I'm still trying to get more information on his whereabouts. Hope this answers your question atleast partly.

Answer 2

Lord Govindaraja is the God of the place Tirupathi. Venkateswara came to Tirupathi lately. If there are two Vishnu temples in one place, the one who was established first will be called as elder brother of the one who came lately. That's how govindaraja become elder brother of venkateswara. This is followed in many places like, in Kanchipuram Lord Varadharaja is known to be younger brother of Lord Yathokthakari perumal as varadharaja came after Yathokthakari perumal. Lord govindaraja was called by devas to be the witness for the agreement that Lord venkateswara's loan with kubera. Lord govindaraja verified all the money and jewels that was lent to Lord venkateswara. The amount was so huge that he became tired by that task so he lied there by making thr measuring jar as his pillow.

Answer 3

Govindaraja Swamy is the elder brother of Lord Venkateswara. He took a loan from Kubera for performing Venkateswara Swamy's marriage. So He looks after the money and loan to be paid for Kubera. That's the reason why you can see the idol with money measuring jar as his cushion.

Answer 4

Govindraja is the main and basic posture of lord Vishnu who sleeps on the coils of adishesha embodiment of time.Now,to answer your question first of all you try to get rid of all mythological and sentiment based confusion. Govindraja is the core form of mahavishnu and all the stories were built around the obvious vaishnavite centre Tirupati.

The real thing is that lord vishnnu was worshipped in the form of Govindraja in Tirupati that's why tirupati also has an alias Govindrajpattana later on the story of lord venkatesha happened around tirupati Tirumala and shrinivasa was declared as an Incarnation of lord vishnu and Thu the priority and significance of Govindraja was shifted to lord venktesha its all a sequence based story or rather a myth.we should stop Fantasizing about the the gods timeline and should focus on the real cosmic form LORD MAHAVISHNU you wouldn't want to explore it further

Lord Govindraja Is my family deity kuladevta and to know him I never ever referred to any mythological conclusions.

Answer 5

1. There is no separate story for Govibdaraja. Its only as sthala purana of Chidambaram.
2. There is no relation between Lord Venkateshwara and Lord Govindarajan
3. As said in previous comments, this Moola Govindarajan Moorthy and srhi Andal was installed by SRI RAMANUJA.
4. The uthasava Moorthy was being safeguarded by one of the Dasi and the same was handed over to shri swmy RAMANUJA and installed there.
5. To bring importance to the Govindarajan temple, it was propagated as big brother of Lord Venkateshwara.