The Geographical Dictionary of Ancient and Mediaeval India c5.s2.100

c5.s2.100

Benkata-giri—The Tirumalai mountain near Tripati or Tirupati in the north Arcot district, about seventy-two miles to the north-west of Madras, where Râmânuja, the founder of the Srî sect of the Vaiṣhṇavas, established the worship of Viṣhṇu called Veṅkaṭasvâmî or Bâlâjî Bîśvanâtha in the place of Śiva in the twelfth century of the Christian era: same as Tripadi. See Srirangam. The *Padma Purâṇa* (Uttara kh., ch. 90) mentions the name of Râmânuja and the Veṅkaṭa hill. *See Tripadi*. Beṅkaṭâdri is also called Seśhâdri (*Ep. Ind.*, vol. III, p. 240; *Skanda P.*, Viṣhṇu kh., chs. 16, 35). For the list of kings of Veṅkaṭagiri, see *JASB.*, (1838), p. 516.