 |
Srirangam (Sri Rangam) is located 2 km north of Tiruchirappalli.
The main deity is Lord Ranganatha, or Lord Vishnu, reclining on
Sesa Naga. This temple is the foremost of the eight self-manifested
shrines of Lord Vishnu (Swayam Vyakta Ksetras). It is also considered
the most important of the 108 main Vishnu temples (Divya Desams).
This temple is a highly recommended place to visit. It was sung
about by all the Alwars (the Tamil Vaishnava saints), except Madhurakavi.
|
 |
The main deity is Lord Ranganatha, or Lord Vishnu, reclining
on Sesa Naga. He is 6.4 m (21 ft) long. Lord Ranganatha is in
a recumbent pose with his right shoulder facing south. He is on
a couch provided by the coils of the celestial serpent Adi Sesa,
who has five raised and wide-open hoods. Near his feet are seated
his two consorts, Sri Bhu and Sri Neela.
|
 |
In front of Lord Ranganatha is the utsava-murti of Lord Vishnu,
called Sri Manavala Perumal. This deity is taken out of the temple
for processions. Along side Lord Ranganatha is Tiruvaranga, who
was worshiped as a substitute during the Muslim period, when the
original could not be found. At the feet of the Lord is Vibhi-shana,
the brother of Ravana.
|
 |
The deity of Sri Ranganatha was first worshiped by Lord Brahma.
The deity was later given to King Ikshvaku to worship, and he
brought the deity to his capital, Ayodhya. Eventually Lord Rama
worshiped Sri Ranganatha. When Vibhishana, the brother of Ravana,
came to Ayodhya, he requested permission to take Sri Ranganatha
to his capital in Lanka to worship. He was allowed to do so on
the condition that if he placed the deity on the ground, he would
not be able to move the deity from that spot. Vibhishana agreed
and proceeded to carry the deity south to Sri Lanka. On his way
he placed the deity on the ground at Srirangam, on the bank of
the Chandra Pushkarani tank.
|
 |
Since that time Sri Ranganatha has stayed at Srirangam. It is
said that the deity faces south, instead of the traditional east,
so as to face Vibhishana in Sri Lanka, to grace him and his kingdom.
The sanctum (altar) faces south and the main entrance is also
from the south (normally it is from the east). It is believed
that Vibhishana goes to Srirangam every 12 years to worship the
Lord.
|
 |
Above the main altar is the Sriranga-vimana (golden tower).
On the four sides of the Ranga vimana are carvings of four forms
of Lord Vishnu. On the south side is Para-Vasudeva, on the west
is Acyuta, on the north Ananda, and on the east Govinda.
|
 |
The innermost enclosure is the sanctum of Sri Ranganatha. It
is square inside, but circular outside. The steps of the sanctum
are named after Kulasekhara Alwar. On the upper parts of the walls
are paintings that are about three centuries old. They depict
the 108 important Vaishnava Divya Desam temples.
|
 |
Jay and Vijay guarding the
entrance. |
 |
Sri Chaitanya, Sri Vallabha-carya, and from personalities of
today the Dalai Lama visited this temple.
|
 |
In the southwest corner is the storeroom of the temple's treasures.
Amongst the large amount of golden items owned by the temple is
a gold vessel given by King Edward VII of England in 1875.
|
 |
The Srirangam Temple is the largest temple in India. The temple
complex covers 21 sq km or 155 acres. It is on a 600 acre island
surrounded by the rivers Kaveri and Kolladam (Coleroon). After
Tirupati, this is the second most visited Vaishnava temple in
South India.
|
 |
Temple Design:
There are seven walls (prakaras) around the temple.
|
 |
The temple has 21 gopurams
(towers). The main southern entrance 13- storey gopuram, called
Raja-gopuram, is the largest in India. It was finished in 1987 and
is 72m (235 feet) high. The passage under this tower is about 30m
(100 ft) long. |
 |
The other gopurams were
built between the 14th and 17th century. |
 |
One of the temple tanks. |
 |
The Shehsaraya Mandapa (Horsecourt Hall) is on the east side
of the temple.
|
 |
It has 8 intricately carved
monolithic pillars of men on rearing horses. |
 |
On the same side of the temple (northeast side) is the impressive
"Hall of a Thousand Pillars." Each of the 5.5m (18 ft)
granite pillars is intricately carved. This hall actually has
only 953 pillars. In the center of the hall is a pedestal shaped
like a processional car. During Vaikuntha Ekadasi, the processional
deity is brought to this pedestal before going on procession.
|
 |
Each morning at 6.45 am,
a cow with her head facing away from Lord Ranganatha and an elephant
facing the cow are brought before the altar. Thus when the deity's
doors are opened the first thing that Lord Ranganatha sees is the
rear end of a cow and the head of an elephant, which are both considered
very auspicious. I was told that instead of a conch-shell being
blown, the elephant blows his trunk. This is the most auspicious
time to see Lord Ranganatha. |
 |
The puja (worship) of the temple is done according to the regulations
of the Ramanuja-sampradaya. It is a traditional belief that Adi
Sankara installed the Janakarsana Yatra at Srirangam and Dhanakarsana
Yatra at Tirupati to attract pilgrims.
Before you enter the fifth enclosure (some say fourth enclosure)
you have to remove your shoes. The Rangavilas Mandapa hall is
directly in front of the southern gate. Next to this (to your
left as you enter the southern gate) is the small, intricately
carved Venugopala Temple. Inside the porch of the Venugopala Temple
there are paintings which show Krishna having pastimes with the
gopis (cowherd-girls).
|
 |
In the northeast corner
of this enclosure is the Chandra Pushkarani tank, the moon-pond,
where Vibhishana first placed the deity of Sri Ranganatha when he
brought the deity here. Next to this tank are shrines dedicated
to Lord Rama, Krishna, and Vishnu lying on the serpent Ananta Sesa.
Toward the southeast corner of this enclosure is a storage area
for the sacred vehicles (vahanas) of the Deities, which are used
for processions. |
 |
There is also a temple dedicated to Lord Narasimha.
The temple entrance.
|
 |
Sri Narasimha. |
 |
You then exit out the north gate and reach the goddess Sri
Ranga Nachiyar Lakshmi Temple, on your left, in the northeast
area of the temple. Lakshmi is the consort of Ranganatha.
|
 |
Ramanuja's samadhi
Sri Ramanujacarya made the Srirangam Temple his headquarters.
His samadhi (tomb) is within the premises of the Srirangam Temple
....When Ramanuja finished speaking, his disciples asked him that
they would not be deprived of the sight of his transcendental
form. Ramanuja accepted their request and ordered that expert
sculptors be brought there to carve deity in his likeness. After
three days the work was finished. Then the deity was bathed with
water from the Kaveri river and installed upon newly constructed
altar. Yatiraja then came slowly up to the deity and filled it
with his potency by breathing into the crown of the head...
|
 |
...Turning
to his disciples, he said: "This is my second self. When I
have cast off this body, you may worship this form instead of me."
Then he lay down with his head on Govinda's lap and his feet on
the lap of Andhrapurna. In this position with his eyes fixed on
the wooden shoes of his spiritual master, Ramanuja gave up his body
and returned to the abode of Lord Visnu. |
 |
Jagannath Math
is a beautiful little temple which marks the place where Sri
Chaitanya spent the four months of the rainy season in 1510. The
house of Vyenkata Bhatta used to be here.
|
 |
The temple has many paintings depicting Sri Chaitanya's pastimes
at Srirangam.
|
 |
In the center hall of the temple there is a diorama of Sri Chaitanya
and a deity of Lord Jagannath carved by Lord Chaitanya Himself.
|
 |
The family descendants of Vyenkata Bhatta still live in Srirangam.
|
 |
The house of Venkata Bhatta
Sri Gopal Bhatta Goswami was the son of Venkata Bhatta, a resident
of Srirangam. Gopal Bhatta formerly belonged to the disciplic
succession of the Ramanuja-sampradaya but later became part of
the Gaudiya-sampradaya...
|
 |
...When Lord Caitanya was
touring South India, He stayed for four months, during the period
of Caturmasya at the house of Venkata Bhatta, who got the opportunity
to serve the Lord to his heart's content. Gopala Bhatta also got
the opportunity to serve the Lord at this time. Sri Gopala Bhatta
Goswami was initiated by his uncle, the great sannyasi Prabhodananda
Sarasvati. Both father and mother of Gopala Bhatta Goswami were
extremely fortunate, for they dedicated their entire lives to the
service of the Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. They allowed Gopala Bhatta
to go to Vrindavana and gave up their lives thinking of Sri Caitanya
Mahaprabhu... |
 |
...When Lord Caitanya was later informed that Gopala Bhatta had
gone to Vrindavana and met Sri Rupa and Sanatana, He was very
pleased, and advised them to accept Gopala Bhatta as their younger
brother and take care about him. Sri Sanatana Goswami, out of
his great affection for Gopala Bhatta Goswami, compiled the Vaisnava
smrti named Hari-bhakti-vilasa and published it under his name.
Under the instruction of Srila Rupa and Sanatana, Gopala Bhatta
Goswami installed one of the seven principal Deities of Vrindavana,
the Radharamana Deity. The sevitas (priests) of the Radharamana
temple belong to the Gaudiya-sampradaya.
|
 |
Interior of the house of Venkata Bhatta and the room where Sri
Caitanya stayed during his visit.
Inside of this wooden box there is TV...
|
 |
Small altar of disciple of Prabhupada's disciple.
|
 |
Ratha-yatra.
|
 |
Inside the outermost walls,
which are 875m (2880 ft) by 750m (2475 ft), there are houses and
a bazaar. In the seventh enclosure, by the southern gopuram, is
a Vamana temple (Lord Vishnu as a dwarf Brahmin). In the southwest
corner of the seventh enclosure there is a fairly large temple dedicated
to Sri Andal. |
 |
Jambukeswara
Temple
is located outside of the temple complex. The main deities are Siva
and Parvati. Lord Siva is in the form of Appu-lingam, representing
water, one of the natural element. Appu-lingam is half submerged
in the water of a natural spring right next to it. The linga is
under holy Jambu tree. "Jambu" means"guava"
and "iswara" is the "lord."Ramacandra is said
to come to this place after killing Ravana and Kumbhakarna. |
 |
Rock Fort
Nearby Rock Fort Temple is on a huge 83 m high rock, said
to be one of the oldest rocks in the world, over 3,8 billion years
old.
...One time Vayu challenged Adi Sesa to a show of strength. So
Adi Sesa coiled around Mount Meru and Vayu tried to loosen the
grip...
|
 |
...Because
of their fight, the whole world had unprecedented hurricanes and
storms. In spite of this, wind-god couldn't loosen His grip. Lord
Siva then asked Adi Sesa to loosen his grip and at this time Mount
Meru broke into three pieces. One chip is said to fallen at the
site of Rock Fort, one at Kalahasti and another at Sri Lanka. |
 |
You walk up about 430 steps cut into a tunnel through the rock
to get to the Ganesh Temple (known as Ucchipillayar Koil in Tamil)
at the top of the hill. It is not a hard climb. There are also
some cave temples with beautiful sculptures of the Pallava era
(7th century). Halfway up, there is the Shri Thayumana Swami Temple
dedicated to Lord Siva. The linga is a projection of the rock.
|
 |
There is a hall with the bell weighting about 2,5 tons, which
has diameter o 4 feet at the base. The thousand pillar hall,
which one can see as one walks up the stairs, was mainly destroyed
by an explosion in 1772.
From the top of the hill one has a great view of the city, Kaveri
river and Srirangam Temple.
|
