Hathiram Bhavaji

Hathiram Bhavaji or Hathiram Baba or Hathiramji was a saint from North India who visited Tirumala around 1500 CE on a pilgrimage and became a devotee of Lord Venkateswara. He settled there by setting up an ashram near the temple. According to a legend, he had the privilege of playing dice with Lord Balaji.

Hathiram was born into a middle-class family in the city of Una, Himachal Pradesh, North India. His real name was Aasa Ram Baljot. His Father's name was Des Raj Baljot. He has four brothers named, Kahna Ram, Meena Ram, Gulaba Ram and Budh Ram Baljot. His family moved to a Village Gunachaur near Banga city of Punjab. Every year on 5 Ashaad, people from Punjab, Himachal gather at village Gunachaur to pay tributes to Baba Hathiram. He stayed at Village Gunachaur for long time, then he left in the search of real God. The old name of village Gunachaur was "Tilla Raja Gopichand". According to legend Hathiram named Lord Venkateswara as Balaji. Not much of historical data is available about his life.

He was a devotee of Lord Rama. When he visited Tirumala, he decided to stay there and set up an ashram outside the temple.
There is a Hathiram Bhavaji Mutt established on his name in Tirumala.

It is believed that Lord Balaji was pleased with his devotion and used to come to his place to play dice with him. One day, the game went on for too long and the Lord suddenly remembered that he was getting late for the daily worship. In a hurry, He left one of his ornaments, a necklace, in Bhavaji's ashram. When the priests opened the temple for the day, they found that an ornament was missing, and instituted a search for it. Bhavaji also realized what happened, and wanted to return the ornament to the temple. He was however caught and house-arrested by the temple guards who thought he was the thief.

The matter reached the king, and he asked Bhavaji why he had stolen the ornament. Bhavaji narrated the incident of the previous night. The king expectedly did not believe the story and ordered his servants to fill the compound of Bhavaji's house with sugarcane, and asked Bhavaji to eat every bit of the sugarcane before dawn. The king also asked his guards to stand outside the house to ensure that nobody went in. Since it was practically impossible to eat such a large amount of sugarcane for any human in one night, Bhavaji simply sat chanting the name of the Lord. After he eventually fell asleep, a huge white elephant appeared inside his home, finished the sugarcane within moments, and disappeared.

In the morning, the king was surprised to see all the sugarcane eaten. He verified with his guards that no elephant was seen the previous night outside the locked house. He then realized that the Lord Himself had appeared as an elephant to save His devotee. Hathi means elephant in Hindi, and Bhavaji frequently chanted Ram. That is how he is supposed to have gotten his name.

The Hathiramji Muth established in his name was used to administer the Tirumala temple from 1843 to 1932 before the creation of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams.

In the 1960 film, Sri Venkateswara Mahatyam, Chittor V. Nagaiah is the first actor who portrayed the role of Hathiram Bhavaji. In the 2017 film, Om Namo Venkatesaya, Nagarjuna Akkineni portrayed the role of Hathiram Bhavaji. Thus, many times with the stories of Balaji and Tirupati, South Indian plays or movies, adapted Hathiram Bhavaji in the end of the play, specifically in "Sri Srinivasa Kalyanam" plays or movies.