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A distance of seven
to eight miles round the Swamipushkarini was marked off as reserved for the Lord and
within that limit no other temple should be constructed. These are said to be the various
reforms introduced by Sri Ramanuja, as seen from the Venkateswara Itihasa Mala. There are
many inscriptions in which these are referred to and we can therefore take it that many of
these injunctions were in existence either before the time of Ramanuja, or were newly
brought by him and placed on a footing of permanence.
The exact period at which the temple was founded is unknown, and tradition
has it that the temple is Swayambhustala. The earliest reference that we have to the
temple is from the Tamil poet Mamulanar, who is a celebrated poet of the Sangam period.
There are any number of references to the temple in the literature of the Alwars and
Acharyas, of whom the greatest was Ramanuja.
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