The lotus at Tiruchanur: Padmavati rises from the Padma Sarovaram
After she leaves Vaikuntha, Lakshmi goes down to the netherworld, is told of a pool on the Swarnamukhi, and does penance there for twelve years; in the thirteenth, on the fifth day of Karthika, she rises from a golden lotus as Padmavati. Tiruchanur keeps the day with the Panchami Theertham and sends every pilgrim to her before Tirumala.
Who is in it
Lakshmiwho leaves Vaikuntha and rises again from the pool
Bhrigu strikes Vishnu's chest, where Lakshmi lives; the Lord answers with service, not anger; Lakshmi leaves Vaikuntha and goes down to Patala.
A voice from the sky tells her of a pool dug on the banks of the Swarnamukhi; she goes there and sits in penance for twelve years.
In the thirteenth year, on the fifth day of the bright fortnight of Karthika under Uttarashadha, she rises from a golden lotus at the centre of the pool as Padmavati.
The town is named for the lady of the lotus, Alamelumanga; the pool is the Padma Sarovaram.
Srinivasa comes to marry her; the temple was built in the time of Tondaman, her elder brother.
Every year the Karthika Brahmotsavam ends on that fifth day: elephants carry the Lord's gifts from Tirumala to her, and her image is bathed in the pool, the Panchami Theertham.
Pilgrims go to her at Tiruchanur before they climb to Tirumala.
The temple says it plainly. The sage Bhrigu struck Vishnu on the chest, which is Lakshmi's home, and the Lord did not answer in anger but with service; and Lakshmi left Vaikuntha and went down to the netherworld. A voice from the sky told her of a pool that had been dug on the banks of the Swarnamukhi river, and she went to it and did penance there for twelve years. In the thirteenth year, on the fifth day of the bright half of Karthika, under the star Uttarashadha, she rose as Padmavati from a golden lotus at the centre of the pool. The town is called after her, the lady on the lotus, Alamelumangapuram; the pool is the Padma Sarovaram. Srinivasa came to marry her, and the temple was built in the time of Tondaman, her elder brother. The temple also keeps the other birth, the girl found in a thousand-petalled lotus at Akasharaja's sacrifice, and does not say how the two fit. Pilgrims come to her before they go up to Tirumala.
Panchami Theertham: the Karthika Brahmotsavam and the elephants' gifts
South India · Tiruchanur; TirumalaVaishnava
The day she rose is kept every year. The Karthika Brahmotsavam at Tiruchanur runs for nine or ten days and ends on Panchami. On the last morning the royal elephants come down from Tirumala carrying gifts from Venkateswara to his consort, silk and turmeric and the rest, and her image is carried to the Padma Sarovaram and given the Chakra Snanam, the bath of the discus, while lakhs of pilgrims go into the water after it. The festival is said to celebrate her birth. The pilgrims' rule holds all year: Tiruchanur first, then the hill; a journey to Tirumala is not complete without her. On the Varalakshmi Friday in Shravana she is dressed as Varalakshmi and taken out in a golden chariot. The Wikipedia line of the temple's own Mahatmyam tells the Bhrigu story with Srinivasa doing the twelve years of penance in the forest of the seven hills and Lakshmi settling at Kolhapur, and the girl found by Akasharaja while ploughing; it cites the Padma Purana for her coming.
What is different here:
The festival as it is kept, not the penance: the elephants, the gifts, the bath in the tank. The Mahatmyam line gives the penance to Srinivasa and sends Lakshmi to Kolhapur.