The Ranganathaswamy Temple, also known as Arulmigu Ranganathar Thirukovil, is a Hindu temple dedicated to Ranganathar (a form of Vishnu) and his consort Ranganayaki (a form of Lakshmi). The temple is located in Srirangam, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India. Constructed in the Tamil architectural style, the temple is glorified by the Tamil poet-saints called the Alvars in their canon, the Naalayira Divya Prabhandham, and has the unique distinction of being the foremost among the 108 Divya Desams dedicated to the god Vishnu. The Srirangam temple stands as the largest functioning religious complex in the world in active worship with a continuous historical presence as a Hindu temple. Some of these structures have been renovated, expanded, and rebuilt over the centuries as a living temple. The latest addition is the outer rajagopuram (tower) that is approximately tall, which was completed in 1987 with support from the Ahobila Mutt among others. The temple is a thriving Hindu house of worship and follows the Thenkalai tradition of Sri Vaishnavism, based on the Pancharatra Agama. The annual 21-day festival conducted during the Tamil month of Margazhi (December–January) attracts one million visitors. The temple complex has been nominated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is in UNESCO's tentative list.Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple, Srirangam, UNESCO In 2017, the temple won the UNESCO Asia-Pacific Award of Merit for cultural heritage conservation, making it the first temple in Tamil Nadu to receive the award from UNESCO. The temple is notable for its vibrant colors; the BBC ranked it as "one of the most colorful buildings in the world."
It is among the most illustrious Vaishnava temples in the world, rich in legend and history. The deity finds a mention in the Sanskrit epic Ramayana which is dated to between the 4th century BCE and the 3rd century CE (completed version).Valmiki Ramayana, Ayodhya kanda, sarga 6, sloka 1, 2 and 3 The temple has played an important role in Vaishnava history starting with the 11th-century career of Ramanuja and his predecessors Nathamuni and Yamunacharya in Srirangam. Its location, on an island between the Kollidam and Kaveri rivers, has rendered it vulnerable to flooding as well as the rampaging of invading armies which repeatedly commandeered the site for military encampment. The temple was looted and destroyed by the Delhi Sultanate armies in a broad plunder raid on various cities of the Pandyan kingdom in the early 14th century. The temple was rebuilt in the late 14th century, the site fortified and expanded with many more gopurams in the 16th and 17th centuries. It was one of the hubs of early Bhakti movement with a devotional singing and dance tradition, but this tradition stopped during the 14th century and was revived in a limited way much later.T.S. Parthasarathy (1978), Music and Dance in Tamil Literature, Indian Literature, Vol. 21, No. 4, pages 137-148; Quote: "The hymns of the Divyaprabandham bad also been set to music and were being sung till the 14th century when the sack of Srirangam by Malik Kafur put an end to the practice."
The temple and temple town occupy an area of with 81 shrines, 21 towers, 39 pavilions, and many water tanks integrated into the complex. The temple town is a significant archaeological and epigraphical site, providing a historic window into the early and mid medieval South Indian society and culture. Numerous inscriptions suggest that this Hindu temple served not only as a spiritual center, but also a major economic and charitable institution that operated education and hospital facilities, ran a free kitchen, and financed regional infrastructure projects from the gifts and donations it received.[a] VN Hari Ram (1961), Services in Srirangam Temple, Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, Volume 24, pages 89-92;[b]
The temple is part of the famous pilgrimage Tri Ranga darshana, where three ranga temples are visited on a single day, situated on the three naturally formed islands of Kaveri. Other two being Adi Ranga and Madhya Ranga.
Location The Ranganathaswamy Temple at Srirangam, also known as Periyakovil (Big Temple), and Bhooloka Vaikuntam is located about north of the city of Tiruchirappalli, about southwest of Chennai. The city is connected daily to other major cities by the network of Indian Railways, Tamil Nadu bus services and the Highway 38. The site is near the Tiruchirappalli International Airport (IATA: TRZ).
The temple site is on a large island bounded by the Kaveri River and Kollidam River. It is vast and planned as a temple town with Sapta-Prakaram design where the sanctum, gopuram, services and living area are co-located in seven concentric enclosures. Rampart walls were added after medieval centuries that saw its invasion and destruction. The temple monuments are located inside the inner five enclosures of the complex, surrounded by living area and infrastructure in outer two enclosures. Numerous gopurams connect the Sapta-Prakaram enclosures allowing the pilgrims and visitors to reach the sanctum from many directions. The site includes two major temples, one for Vishnu as Ranganatha, and the other to Shiva as Jambukeshvara. The island has some cave temples, older than both.
Legend
The temple and its artwork are a subject of numerous different Tamil legends covered in regional Puranic texts. Sriranga Mahatmyam, for example, is one of the compilations of the temple mythology about its origins. According to it, Brahma was performing austerities during the Samudra Manthana (churning of cosmic ocean), and Srirangam Vimanam emerged as a result. It remained in Satyaloka for ages, and was brought to Ayodhya by king Ikshvaku. After Rama, an avatar of Vishnu, had killed the evil demon Ravana, he gave it to King Vibhishana, who wanted to be with Rama. When Vibhishana passed through Tiruchi en route to Sri Lanka, where he had become the king, the Srirangam Vimanam would not move from the island. So, he gave it to a local king called Dharmavarma, if the king consecrated the Vimanam to face the south cardinal direction eternally, blessing him and Lanka. Hence, it is that the deity (in a reclining posture) faces South, his body aligned to the east–west axis.
As per another legend, Sanaka, the four child sages, came for a darshana of Ranganatha in Srirangam. They were stopped by Jaya and Vijaya, the guardians of Vaikuntha. In spite of their pleadings, they were refused entry. In anger, all four of them cursed the guardians in one voice and left. The guardians approached Vishnu and told him about the curse. Ranganatha said that he would not be able to reverse the curse and gave them two options: be born as demons opposing Vishnu in three births or good human beings in the following seven births. Eager to be back with the Lord, the guardians accepted being demons and are believed to have taken the form of Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakasipu; Ravana and Kumbhakarna; and Sisupala and Dantavakra. Vishnu assumed four avatars – Varaha, Narasimha, Rama, and Krishna, respectively – to kill the demons in each one of those births.
The Mahabharata says that after Arjuna's marriage with Ulupi (the snake princess), he went to the various pilgrimage centres in South India. Arjuna is said to have visited this temple and offered prayers to Ranganatha. There is a mandapa (hall) called Arjuna Mandapa in the temple.
During the Alauddin Khilji invasion of the temple, the utsavar idol of Ranganatha was looted, while the Ranganayaki idol was buried under a tree. The Ranganatha idol was taken to Delhi and was about to be melted by Malik Kafur, but the Sultan's daughter (traditionally named Suratani) pleaded with him to give her the idol so that she could use it like a doll. Kafur agreed, and Suratani took the idol, placed it in her room, dressed it up with clothes, playfully fed it food and slept with the idol. Pleased by her service, Ranganatha kept on appearing in her dreams. A troop of brave Vaishnavites, disguised as entertainers, set out from Srirangam to Delhi. When they reached the Sultan's court, they entertained him. The Sultan was so pleased that when they asked for the return of the Ranganatha idol, he gave it back to them, upsetting Suratani. Suratani and Malik Kafur both followed the entertainers back to Srirangam. Suratani entered the temple first and, still not seeing the idol anywhere, immediately committed suicide in front of the sanctum door, symbolising that love brought back the idol.
Kafur saw Suratani's dead body and was enraged, starting a horrible war that killed 13,000 devotees. The temple dancers, led by Vellai Ammal, seduced some of the soldiers and put them in a death trap. The idol, however, was smuggled to Tirupati. Since the head priest didn't know the idol was taken out again and assumed that the idol was still missing, he hastily ordered for a new similar idol to be created. When the original idol returned, the surviving devotees were confused as to which idol was the original one. A blind washerman then tasted the water offered to both idols and correctly identified the original one. The idol was reinstalled, the goddess idol was found again, and the temple was restored to its former glory by the successive dynasties. In memory of Suratani, the temple priests deified her and installed a painting (Suratani's Muslim identity meant that she could not be a stone idol) of her as a goddess in the Arjuna Mandapa. Today, Suratani is known as Thulukka Nachiyar and is offered Chapatis as prasada. Only during Abhishekams, the Ranganatha idol is dressed up in a Muslim-style lungi to commemorate his love for Suratani and to symbolise interfaith harmony.
In total, Lord Ranganatha (Vishnu) of Srirangam is believed to have seven consorts, with Goddess Ranganayaki (Lakshmi) being the first and chief consort. The others are Goddess Bhudevi, Goddess Neeladevi, Andal, Kamalavalli (from the Uraiyur temple), Cherakulavalli, and Thulukka Nachiyar. Kamalavalli, Cherakulavalli and Thulukka Nachiyar are believed to be human royal princesses who were devoted to Ranganatha, and he married them due to their love for him. Kamalavalli is from the Chola dynasty, Cherakulavalli is from the Chera dynasty, while Thulukka Nachiyar is from the Delhi Sultanate. It was believed that when Ranganatha married these three princesses, Goddess Ranganayaki was upset and she distanced herself from him. She commanded her priests to keep her idol only in her shrine and nowhere else near her husband, earning her the epithet Padi Thandadha Pathni (The wife who never crosses her doorstep/limits). Even today, Ranganayaki and Ranganatha are seen together only once a year on the Panguni Uthram day (March–April), known as Serthi Sevai.
History The main deity of the temple is mentioned in various Sanskrit literature and epics such as the Ramayana, Mahabharata, Padma Purana, Brahmanda Purana and Garuda Puranam. There are mentions even in the Tamil literature of the Sangam era (300 BCE to the 300 CESangam literature, Encyclopaedia Britannica), there are mentions in many books like Akanaṉūṟu, Purananuru, Paripāṭal and Silapadikaram. Example:- Silapadikaram (book 11, lines 35–40):
The temple was first built by the Chola ruler, Dharmavarma. The Kaveri river flood destroyed the temple vimanam, and later, the early Cholas King Killivalavan rebuilt the temple complex that is present today. There are many mandapas which were built near the main sanctum sanctorum which dates around 100 CE to 300 CE built by Uraiyur Cholas. There were later additions of structures and inscriptions in the temple which belong to the Chola, Pandya, Hoysala, Marathas and Vijayanagara dynasties who ruled over the region. These inscriptions range in date between the 7th and 17th centuries.