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Sthalam

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Divyadesam Temple&nbsp;1&nbsp;

The Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to Ranganatha (a form of Vishnu), located in Srirangam, Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu, India.&nbsp;Constructed in the Hindu architectural style, the temple is glorified by Alvars in their Divya Prabhanda&nbsp;and has the unique distinction of being the foremost among the 108 Divya Desams dedicated to the god Vishnu.It is the most illustrious Vaishnava temples in South India rich in legend and history.

The temple has played an important role in Vaishnavism 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.&nbsp;The temple was looted and destroyed by the Delhi Sultanate armies in a broad plunder raid on various cities of the Pandyan kingdom in early 14th century.

The temple was rebuilt in late 14th century,the site fortified and expanded with many more gopurams in the 16th and 17th centuries.&nbsp;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.

The temple occupies an area of 155 acres (63 ha) with 81 shrines, 21 towers, 39 pavilions, and many water tanks integrated into the complex making it the world&#39;s largest functioning Hindu temple.&nbsp;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.

The Srirangam temple is the largest temple compound in India and one of the largest religious complexes in the world.Some of these structures have been renovated, expanded and rebuilt over the centuries as a living temple. The latest addition is the outer tower that is approximately 73 metres (240 ft) tall, completed in 1987.

Srirangam temple is often listed as one of the largest functioning Hindu temple in the world, the still larger Angkor Wat being the largest existing temple.The temple is an active Hindu house of worship and follows the Tenkalai tradition of Sri Vaishnavism.

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The temple is enclosed by 7 concentric enclosures with courtyards (termed&nbsp;prakarams&nbsp;or&nbsp;mathil suvar). Each layer has walls and gopurams, which were built or fortified in and after the 16th century. These walls total 32,592 feet (9,934&nbsp;m) or over six miles. The temple has 17 major&nbsp;gopurams&nbsp;(towers, 21 total),&nbsp;39 pavilions, 50 shrines, 9 sacred water pools,&nbsp;Ayiram kaal&nbsp;mandapam&nbsp;(a hall of 1000 pillars) and several small water bodies inside.

The temple is aligned to the north-south and east-west axis, on an island surrounded by the Kaveri River. The river has long been considered sacred, and called the&nbsp;Daksina Ganga&nbsp;or the &quot;Ganges of the South&quot;.&nbsp;The outer two&nbsp;prakarams&nbsp;(outer courtyard) are residential and markets with shops, restaurants and flower stalls.

The five inner courtyards have shrines to Vishnu and his various&nbsp;avatars&nbsp;such as Rama and Krishna. Major shrines are additionally dedicated to goddess Lakshmi and many saints of Vaishnavism. In particular, these shrines celebrate and commemorate the Tamil poet-saints and philosophers called the&nbsp;Alvars, as well Hindu philosophers such as Ramanuja and Manavala Mamunigal of&nbsp;Sri Vaishnavism&nbsp;tradition.Despite the construction of various mandapas and gopuras over a span of many centuries, the architecture of the Ranganathaswamy temple is one of the better illustrations of Hindu temple planometric geometry per&nbsp;agama&nbsp;design texts in the Tamil tradition.

According to George Michell, a professor and art historian on Indian architecture, the regulating geometry and plan of Srirangam site takes on &quot;a ritual dimension since all the architectural components, especially the focal gopuras and the most important colonnades and mandapas, are arranged along the axes dictated by the cardinal directions&quot;. This alignment integrates the routes that devotees follow as they journey into the innermost sanctum.

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There are 21 gopurams (tower gateways), among which the towering Rajagopuram (shrine of the main gateway) is the tallest temple tower in Asia. The 13-tiered Rajagopuram was built in 1987 by Ahobhila Matha, a historic Srivaishnava Hindu monastery. This tower dominates the landscape for miles around, while the remaining 20 gopurams were built between the 12th and early 17th centuries. The gopurams have pronounced projections in the middle of the long sides, generally with openings on each of the successive levels.

The Vellai gopura (white tower) on the east side of the fourth enclosure has a steep pyramidal superstructure that reaches a height of almost 44 metres (144 ft).The structure of the Rajagopuram remained incomplete for over 400 years. Started during the reign of Achyuta Deva Raya of Vijayanagara Empire, the construction stopped after the fall of Vijayanagara in late 16th century and wars thereafter. The Rajagopuram (the main gopuram) did not reach its current height of 73 metres (240 ft) until 1987, when the 44th Jiyar (acharya, chief counsellor) of Ahobila Matha began collecting donations to complete it.

The whole structure was constructed in a span of eight years. The Rajagopuram was consecrated on 25 March 1987.The length and breadth at the base of the Rajagopuram is 166 and 97 feet (50.6 and 29.6 m), while the length and breadth at the top is 98 and 32 feet (29.9 and 9.8 m). The 13 glistening copper &#39;kalasams&#39; atop the tower weigh 135 kg (298 lb) each, are 3.12 m (10 ft 3 in) high with a 1.56 m (5 ft 1 in) diameter vessel.

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Sesharayar mandapam&nbsp;

The Ranganathaswamy Temple has many mandapams:Thousand pillar mandapam is a theatre like structure made from granite. It was built during the&nbsp;Vijayanagara rule&nbsp;period. It has a central wide aisle with seven side aisles on each side with pillars set in a square pattern.Sesharaya mandapam is the intricately carved hall built during the Nayaka rule period. It is found on the east side of the fourth&nbsp;prakaram&nbsp;courtyard. The northern side of this community hall has 40 leaping animals with riders on their back, all carved out of monolithic pillars.Garuda Mandapam is named after the&nbsp;vahana&nbsp;(vehicle) of Vishnu, named&nbsp;Garuda. It is on the south side of the third&nbsp;prakaram&nbsp;courtyard. It too is dated to the Nayak rule era. Inside the community hall, on its pillars, are portrait sculptures.

In the middle is a free-standing seated Garuda figure, identifiable by his eagle-head, wings and him facing the Vishnu shrine.Kili mandapam is found inside the innermost (first)&nbsp;prakaram&nbsp;courtyard. It is next to the Ranganatha sanctum. Here walking elephant balustrades line the steps that lead into the gathering hall. This is dated to the 17th century Hindu rulers. The hall and structural elements are carved with animals, and in its center is a raised square platform with four carved pillars. 
Ranga Vilasa mandapam is one of the larger community halls designed for large spaces between the pillars for the pilgrim groups and families to sit together and rest.

It is covered with Hindu mythology murals and narratives from the Ramayana.The Hall of 1000 pillars is a fine example of a planned theatre-like structure and opposite to it is the &quot;Sesha Mandap&quot;. The 1000-pillared hall made of granite&nbsp;was constructed in the&nbsp;Vijayanagara&nbsp;period (1336&ndash;1565) on the site of the old temple.The most artistic halls that the Nayaks added to the complex is the&nbsp;Sesha Mandap&nbsp;on the east side of the fourth enclosure.&nbsp;The hall is celebrated for the leaping animals carved on to the piers at its northern end.

The pillars consists of sculptures of wildly rearing horses bearing riders on their backs and trampling with their hoofs upon the heads of rampant tigers, seem only natural and congruous among such weird surroundings.The great hall is traversed by one wide aisle in the centre for the whole of its greater length, and intersected by transepts of like dimension running across at right angles. There still remain seven side aisles on each side, in which all the pillars are equally spaced out.&nbsp;The&nbsp;Garuda Mandapa&nbsp;(hall of the legendary bird deity of Vishnu,&nbsp;garuda) located on the south side of the third enclosure is another Nayak addition.

Courtly portrait sculptures, reused from an earlier structure, are fixed to the piers lining the central aisle. A free-standing shrine inside the hall contains a large seated figure of&nbsp;Garuda; the eagle-headed god faces north towards the principal sanctum.The&nbsp;Kili mandapa&nbsp;(Hall of parrot) is located next to the Ranganatha shrine, in the first enclosure of the temple. Elephant balustrades skirt the access steps that ascend to a spacious open area. This is bounded by decorated piers with rearing animals and attached colonettes in the finest 17th-century manner. Four columns in the middle define a raised dais; their shafts are embellished with undulating stalks.

The Ranganathaswamy Temple town has over 800 inscriptions, of which nearly 640 are on temple walls and monuments. Many of these relate to gifts and grants by rulers or the elite, while others relate to the temple&#39;s management, scholars, dedication and general operation. The inscriptions have been a source of information about South Indian history, culture, economy and social role.These range from the late 9th century to the rule of&nbsp;Aditya Chola I, to the last historical ones from the 16th century. Others are from the times of Cholas, Nayakas, Pandyas, Hoysalas and the Vijayanagara era.The historic inscriptions at the Ranganathaswamy Temple are in six major Indian languages:&nbsp;

Tamil,&nbsp;Sanskrit,&nbsp;Kannada,&nbsp;Telugu,&nbsp;Marathi&nbsp;and&nbsp;Odia. Many of the inscriptions are in&nbsp;Grantha&nbsp;characters.&nbsp;Some of the mandapam and corridors of the Temple complex have frescoes, of which some have faded. These narrate Hindu legends and mythologies, or scenes relating to Vaishnava scholars.

Granaries, tanks, and other monuments 
The Ranganathaswamy Temple complex includes huge medieval era&nbsp;Kottarams&nbsp;or granaries. These provided food reserves and security to the temple town and supplies to its kitchen serving the needy travelers, pilgrims and local population.&nbsp;The temple has many other structures, participating and supporting various aspects of social life. Some mandapams and temple compounds were devoted to education, both religious and secular such as of musicians and dancers.&nbsp;The temple inscriptions state that its premises had an&nbsp;arokyashala&nbsp;(hospital) for those needing medical care.&nbsp;Several 11th and 12th century inscriptions describe a gift of land to support recitation of Hindu texts in the temple and for feeding Sri Vaishnavas.

The temple has twelve major water tanks. Of these, the Surya Pushkarini (sun pool) and Chandra Pushkarani (moon pool) are two of the largest that harvest most of rainwater. They have a combined capacity of two million liters of water.The temple has wooden monuments that is regularly maintained and used for festive processions. These have intricate carvings of Hindu legends, and some are plated with silver or gold foils. The most significant of the temple chariots are the Garuda vahana, the Simha vahana, the Yanai vahana, the Kudirai vahana, the Hanumantha vahana, the Yazhi vahana, the Sesha vahana, the Annapakshi vahana, the Otrai vahana and the Prabhai vahana.

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The hall, located in front of Thayar shrine, where&nbsp;Kambar&nbsp;is believed to have recited his works on&nbsp;Kamba Ramayanam .Kambar&nbsp;is a 12th-century Tamil poet who composed the&nbsp;Kamba Ramayanam, a work inspired from the epic,&nbsp;Valmiki Ramayana. He is believed to have come to the temple to get the approval of his work from scholars. The&nbsp;Jain&nbsp;scholar Tirunarungundam honoured the work and it resulted in&nbsp;Tamil&nbsp;and&nbsp;Sanskrit&nbsp;scholars approving the work.The open hall where he recited his verse lies close to the Ranganayaki shrine within the temple.

Bhakti movement 
Ranganathaswamy temple is the only one out of the 108 temples that was sung in praise by all the&nbsp;Alvars&nbsp;(Poet-saints of the Bhakti movement), having a total of 247&nbsp;pasurams&nbsp;(divine hymns) against its name.&nbsp;Acharyas&nbsp;(guru) of all schools of thought&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;Advaita,&nbsp;Vishistadvaita&nbsp;and&nbsp;Dvaita&nbsp;recognise the immense significance of the temple, regardless of their affiliations.

Naalayira Divya Prabhandam&nbsp;is a collection of 4000 hymns sung by twelve&nbsp;alvars&nbsp;saints spread over 300 years (from the late 6th to 9th century CE) and collected by&nbsp;Nathamuni&nbsp;(910&ndash;990 CE).&nbsp;Divya Desams&nbsp;refer to 108 Vishnu temples that are mentioned in Naalayira Divya Prabandham. 105 of these are located in&nbsp;India, 1 in&nbsp;Nepal, while 2 are located outside of the Earthly realms.&nbsp;Divya&nbsp;in&nbsp;Tamil&nbsp;language indicates premium and&nbsp;Desam&nbsp;indicates place or temple.&nbsp;Periyalvar&nbsp;begins the decad on Srirangam with two puranic stories according to which&nbsp;Krishna&nbsp;restored to life the son of his&nbsp;guru&nbsp;Sandeepani and the children of a&nbsp;brahmin.&nbsp;

Thondaradippodi Alvar&nbsp;and&nbsp;Thiruppana Alvar&nbsp;have sung exclusively on Ranganatha.&nbsp;Andal&nbsp;attained Sri Ranganatha on completion of her&nbsp;Thiruppavai&nbsp;(a composition of 30 verses) in Srirangam. In total there are 247 hymns of the 4000&nbsp;Pasurams&nbsp;dedicated to Ranganthar deity of this temple. Except&nbsp;Madhurakavi Alvar, all the other eleven&nbsp;Alvars&nbsp;have created&nbsp;Mangalasasanam&nbsp;(praise) about the Ranganathar in Srirangam. Out of 247, 35 are by&nbsp;Periyalvar, 10 by&nbsp;Andal, 31 by&nbsp;Kulasekara Alvar, 14 by&nbsp;Thirumalisai Alvar, 55 by&nbsp;Thondaradippodi Alvar, 10 by&nbsp;Thiruppaan Alvar, 73 by&nbsp;Thirumangai Alvar, one by&nbsp;Poigai Alvar,4 by&nbsp;Bhoothathalvar, two by&nbsp;Peyalvar&nbsp;and twelve by&nbsp;Nammalvar. Kulasekarar (Cheraman II) gave up his kingdom to his son during 798 CE and started visiting temples and singing praises about them. He visited the temple, praised the presiding deity and his works are compiled in the Naalayira Divya Prabandam.

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The temple was a center for music and dance learning, with many mandapam showing their sculptures.Some of the religious works like&nbsp;Sri Bhashyam&nbsp;by&nbsp;Ramanuja,&nbsp;Gadya Traya&nbsp;(which is a compilation of three texts called the&nbsp;Saranagati Gadyam,&nbsp;Sriranga Gadyam&nbsp;and the&nbsp;Vaikunta Gadyam) by Ramanuja,CITEREFK.S.2002&nbsp;Sri Renga natha shtakam&nbsp;by&nbsp;Adi Shankaracharya,&nbsp;Renga raja Stavam&nbsp;and&nbsp;Guna ratna kosham&nbsp;by Sri Parasar bhattar,Renga raja Sthothram&nbsp;by Kurathazhwar, are some of the works that were exclusively composed in praise of the presiding deities Lord Ranganatha and Goddess Ranganayaki of Srirangam temple.

Pilgrimage 
Koil or koyil in Tamil means the house of the Master and thus refers to the temples. Srirangam is the most prominent among such temples. For many&nbsp;Vaishnavas&nbsp;the term&nbsp;Koyil&nbsp;exclusively refers to this temple, indicating its extreme importance for them (for&nbsp;saivas&nbsp;and all other Tamil people the term&nbsp;koyil&nbsp;refers to Thillai Natarajar Golden Shrine (Chidambaram Temple)). The presiding deity Ranganathar is praised in many names by his devotees, including&nbsp;Nam Perumal&nbsp;(our god in Tamil),&nbsp;Azhagiya Manavaalan&nbsp;(beautiful groom in Tamil). The deity is also known as Kasturi Ranga and Alagiya Manavalan.The temple is considered in the Alwar traditions as one of the eight&nbsp;Sywayambu Kshetras&nbsp;of Vishnu where presiding deity is believed to have manifested on its own. Seven other temples in the line are&nbsp;Bhu Varaha Swamy temple,&nbsp;Tirumala Venkateswara Temple, and&nbsp;Vanamamalai Perumal Temple&nbsp;in&nbsp;South India&nbsp;and&nbsp;Saligrama,&nbsp;Naimisaranya,&nbsp;Pushkar&nbsp;and&nbsp;Badrinath Temple&nbsp;in&nbsp;North India.

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Vaishnava scholarship 
Many of the medieval Sri Vaishanava scholars like&nbsp;Nathamuni,&nbsp;Ramanuja,&nbsp;Pillai Lokacharya,&nbsp;Vedanta Desika&nbsp;and Manavala Mamunigal are associated with the temple.&nbsp;Ramanuja was a&nbsp;theologian, philosopher, and&nbsp;scriptural&nbsp;exegete. He is seen by&nbsp;Śrīvaiṣṇavas&nbsp;as the third and one of the most important teacher (ācārya) of their tradition (after&nbsp;Nathamuni&nbsp;and&nbsp;Yamunacharya), and by&nbsp;Hindus&nbsp;in general as the leading expounder of&nbsp;Viśiṣṭādvaita, one of the classical interpretations of the dominant&nbsp;Vedanta&nbsp;school of&nbsp;Hindu philosophy. Ramanuja renounced his family life and went to&nbsp;Srirangam&nbsp;to occupy the pontificate&nbsp;&ndash;&nbsp;Srirangam&nbsp;became the stronghold of him and his disciples.

The purportedly preserved mortal remains of&nbsp;Ramanuja&nbsp;in Upadesa Mudra inside the temple.

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Puranam

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The temple was first built by the Chola ruler, Dharmavarma.&nbsp;The Kaveri river flood destroyed the temple&nbsp;vimanam, and later, the&nbsp;early Cholas&nbsp;King&nbsp;Killivalavan&nbsp;rebuilt the temple complex as is present today. Beyond the ancient textual history, archaeological evidence such as inscriptions refer to this temple, but these stone inscriptions are from late 1st millennium CE.The inscriptions in the temple belong to the&nbsp;Chola,&nbsp;Pandya,&nbsp;Hoysala&nbsp;and&nbsp;Vijayanagara&nbsp;dynasties who ruled over the region. These inscriptions range in date between the 9th and 16th centuries.During the period of invasion and plunder by the&nbsp;Ala ud Din Khilji&#39;s Muslim general&nbsp;Malik Kafur&nbsp;and his&nbsp;Delhi Sultanate&nbsp;forces in 1311, the Arabic texts of the period state that he raided a &quot;golden temple&quot; on river &quot;Kanobari&quot; (Kaveri), destroyed the temple and took the plunder with the golden icon of the deity to&nbsp;Delhi. According to Steven P. Hopkins, this is believed to be the Ranganathaswamy Temple.

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The Tamil texts that followed offer various inconsistent legends on how the temple regained the Vishnu icon. According to one found in&nbsp;Koil Oluku, a young girl had vowed to fast till she had seen the icon.She followed the Muslim army as it returned with the loot back to Delhi. There she sneaked into the palace and saw that the Sultan&#39;s daughter had fallen in love with the image.

The young girl returned to Srirangam and told the priests about what she had seen in Delhi. The priests went with musicians to Delhi, found the icon in capriciously playful possession of the Sultan&#39;s daughter, day and night.&nbsp;They sang and danced before the Sultan to return the icon, and he gave it back which upset his daughter. To console the daughter, the Sultan sent in his army again to bring it back, but this time they were not successful.According to other versions, the Muslim daughter followed the icon from Delhi to Srirangam on a horse and still not seeing the idol, gave up her life before the door of the sanctum, symbolizing that love brought back the icon after the war had taken it away.

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An 1870 photo of the gopurams in the temple town.

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Beyond these legends, there was a more severe second invasion of South India including Srirangam between 1323 CE and 1327 CE by the armies of the Sultanate under&nbsp;Muhammad bin Tughluq.The sanctum&#39;s Vishnu image with its jewelry was pre-emptively removed by the Hindus before the Delhi Sultanate troops reached Srirangam by a group led by the Vaishnavite&nbsp;Acharaya&nbsp;Pillai Lokacharyar to&nbsp;Tirunelveli&nbsp;in Tamil Nadu. The Goddess&nbsp;Ranganayaki&nbsp;(Lakshmi) was also taken away to another location by a separate group. The temple was defended and according to the Tamil tradition some 13,000&nbsp;Sri Vaishnavas&nbsp;devotees of Srirangam, died in the fierce battle.

After nearly six decades when&nbsp;Madurai Sultanate&nbsp;ruled after the Pandyan rulers were ousted after the repeated Delhi Sultanate&#39;s invasions, the Vijayanagara Empire ousted the Madurai Sultanate in 1378.Thereafter, the image of Namberumal was brought back to Srirangam.Before then, for decades the deity and the priestly wardens wandered and secretly carried the temple&#39;s icon through villages of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka. They finally went to the hills of&nbsp;Tirumala Tirupati, where they remained until the temple was rebuilt in 1371

.&nbsp;The icon was consecrated again according to the legends. This time, in memory of the first Sultan&#39;s daughter which tradition calls&nbsp;Thulukha Nachiyar, a niche in the temple was built for her. The niche shows her as a girl sitting on a horse that carried her to Delhi. Her legend is still remembered. During contemporary processions when the icon is taken out of sanctum and then returned to it after its journey,&nbsp;Thulukha Nachiyar&nbsp;is dressed in Muslim garments and food offerings are made to her in the form of butter and&nbsp;chappathis&nbsp;(wheat bread).

Thereafter, under the&nbsp;Vijayanagara Empire, the temple site saw over 200 years of stability, repairs, first round of fortifications, and addition of mandapas.The Vishnu and Lakshmi images were reinstalled and the site became a Hindu temple again in 1371 CE under Kumara Kampana, a Vijayanagara commander and the son of&nbsp;Bukka I.&nbsp;In the last decade of the 14th century, a pillared antechamber was gifted by the Vijayanagara rulers. In the 15th century, they coated the apsidal roofs with solid gold sheets, followed by financing the addition of a series of new shrines, mandapas and gopuras to the temple, according to George Michell.After the destruction of the Vijayanagara in late 16th century, geo-political instability returned.

The site became the focus of bitter wars between the Hindu Nayakas and the Muslim Mughals in the 17th century.&nbsp;The Nayakas fortified the temple town and the seven&nbsp;prakaras. It was taken over by Muslim Nawabs of Arcot as a lucrative source of revenues, and thereafter attracted a contest between the French and British military powers.

&nbsp;Srirangam temple site and the neighboring city of Tiruchirappalli (Trichy) became an intense center of Christian and Muslim missionary activity during the 18th and 19th centuries.&nbsp;With the establishment of the Madras Presidency within the British Empire, geo-political stability returned and the Ranganathaswamy Temple site attracted interest in archeological and historical studies.The temple and its artwork are a subject of numerous different Tamil legends covered in regional&nbsp;Puranic&nbsp;texts.&nbsp;Sriranga Mahathmiyam, for example, is one of the compilation of the temple mythology about its origins.&nbsp;According to it, Brahma was performing austerities during the&nbsp;Samudra Manthana&nbsp;(churning of cosmic ocean), and Srirangam Vimanam emerged as a result. It remained in&nbsp;Satyaloka&nbsp;for ages, was brought to&nbsp;Ayodhya&nbsp;by king Ikshvaku

.&nbsp;After&nbsp;Rama, an&nbsp;avatar&nbsp;of Vishnu, had killed the evil demon Ravana, he gave it to King&nbsp;Vibhishana&nbsp;who wanted to be with Rama.&nbsp;When Vibhishana passed through&nbsp;Tiruchi&nbsp;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,&nbsp;Sanaka, the four child sages, came for a&nbsp;darshana&nbsp;of Ranganatha in Srirangam. They were stopped by&nbsp;Jaya and Vijaya, the guardians of&nbsp;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 revert 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&nbsp;Hiranyaksha&nbsp;and&nbsp;Hiranyakasipu;&nbsp;Ravana&nbsp;and&nbsp;Kumbhakarna; and&nbsp;Sisupala&nbsp;and&nbsp;Dantavakra. Vishnu assumed four&nbsp;avatars&nbsp;&ndash; Varaha, Narasimha, Rama, and Krishna, respectively &ndash; to kill the demons in each one of those births.

The doctrine of Vishishtadvaita philosophy,&nbsp;Sri Bhashyam&nbsp;was written and later compiled by Ramanuja over a period of time in this temple town.&nbsp;During his stay in Srirangam, he is said of have written &quot;Gadhya Thrayam&quot;, which is recited in the temple during the ninth day (Panguni Uttaram) of the festival of&nbsp;Adi brahmotsavam. The temple is a center for the&nbsp;Vishishtadvaita&nbsp;school where&nbsp;Sanskrit&nbsp;Vedas&nbsp;and&nbsp;Tamil&nbsp;works are preached and taught with great reverence.

He attained divinity in Srirangam. The disciples of Ramanuja got his permission to install three metallic images, one each at&nbsp;Sriperumpudur,&nbsp;Melukote&nbsp;and the third, at Srirangam.He is found seated in the&nbsp;Padmasana&nbsp;(yogic sitting posture), depicting the&nbsp;Gnyana-Mudrai&nbsp;(symbol of knowledge) with his right palm. &quot;Kovil Ozhugu&quot; is a codification of all temple practices, religious and administrative, shaped and institutionalised by Sri Ramanuja after receiving the due rights from Sri Thiruvarangathamudanar. A stone inscription to this effect is installed in the&nbsp;Arya patal vasal&nbsp;(main gate before the first precinct).

Pancharanga Kshetrams&nbsp;(also called&nbsp;Pancharangams, meaning the &quot;five Rangams or Ranganathas&quot;) is a group of five sacred&nbsp;Hindu temples, dedicated to&nbsp;Ranganatha, a form of the god&nbsp;Vishnu, on the banks of the&nbsp;Kaveri&nbsp;River. The five Pancharanga Kshetrams in the order of their successive locations, on the banks of the Kaveri River are: The&nbsp;Srirangapatnam&nbsp;called the Adi Ranga, the first temple on the banks of the Kaveri River from the upstream side; the Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple at Srirangam known as Adya Ranga (the last temple), Appalarangam or&nbsp;Koviladi&nbsp;at Tiruppernagar in Tamil Nadu,&nbsp;Parimala Ranganatha Perumal Temple&nbsp;or Mayuram at Indalur,&nbsp;Mayiladuthurai&nbsp;and&nbsp;Vatarangam&nbsp;at&nbsp;Sirkazhi. The&nbsp;Sarangapani temple&nbsp;at&nbsp;Kumbakonam&nbsp;is mentioned in place of Vatarangam in some references.

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Varnam

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On a magnificent cot having a thousand heads spread out, worshipped and praised by many, in an islet surrounded by Kaveri with billowing waves, is the lying posture of the one who has Lakshmi sitting in his chest

The temple complex includes over 50 shrines. These are dedicated to Vishnu, Lakshmi as well as various Vaishnava scholars and poets. The shrines to Vishnu display him in his various&nbsp;avatars, as well as his iconography. For example, Sri Ranganathaswamy temple shrines include those of&nbsp;Chakkaratalvar,&nbsp;Narasimha,&nbsp;Rama,&nbsp;Hayagriva, and&nbsp;Gopala Krishna.

The Chakratalvar shrine is in the east facing on the south side of Akalanka. The sanctum is approached through a Mukamandapa (six rows of pillars) built during the&nbsp;Cholas&nbsp;and a Mahamandapa with six rows of eight pillars built during the period of&nbsp;Vijayanagar Empire. There is a circumambulation passage around the sanctum.

The image of Chakratalvar is sculpted with&nbsp;Narasimha&nbsp;on the rear side and can be viewed from the passage around the sanctum.&nbsp;The Venugopala shrine, one of the most elaborately carved, is in the south-west corner of the fourth enclosure of the temple was rebuilt by&nbsp;Chokkanatha Nayak, according to an inscription dated 1674.

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The main shrine for Ranganatha is in the innermost courtyard. The sanctum has a golden&nbsp;vimanam&nbsp;(crown tower over the sanctum sanctorum). It is shaped like the Tamil&nbsp;omkara&nbsp;(om symbol), shows anthropomorphic Paravasudeva on its gable, has an etching of Ramanuja as well on it, and is plated with gold. Inside, a 6-metre (20&nbsp;ft) edifice of Sri Ranganthar reclining on&nbsp;Adisesha, the coiled serpent, can be seen.Adisesha has five hoods and is coiled into three and a half rounds. Vishnu&#39;s head rests on a small cylindrical pillow and his right palm which faces upwards rests next to his head. Neither Sridevi (goddess Lakshmi) nor Bhudevi (goddess Earth) are depicted near his feet, as is found in late medieval era paintings. The sanctum does not show Brahma coming out of or connected to his navel either.&nbsp;However, the procession images of Sridevi, Bhudevi and Ranganathar, otherwise known as&nbsp;Alagiyamanavalan&nbsp;and&nbsp;Namperumal&nbsp;reside within the sanctum in different places to ease their&nbsp;darshana&nbsp;

The sanctum can be entered through the south gateway, one the reclining Vishnu is facing. The doorway as one enters from the&nbsp;mukhamandapam, also called the&nbsp;Gayatri mantapa, is flanked by Jaya and Vijaya, the guardians of Vaikuntha. The sanctum chamber is round, even though the vimana above is an oval projection. The circumambulation path (pradakshina-patha) is set in a square, to journey clockwise.&nbsp;This&nbsp;garbha-griya&nbsp;is surrounded by a raised square&nbsp;Tiruvunnali, encircling pillars and another inner square. As the visitor completes the circumambulation around the resting Vishnu, one sees four additional images.On the western wall inside the core sanctum is Vighnesvara (son of Shiva and Parvati, Ganesha,&nbsp;Shaivism), on the northwestern corner is Yoga-Ananta (Vishnu seated in yoga asana on Sesha,&nbsp;Vaishnavism), on the northeastern side is Yoga-Narasimha (Narasimha seated in yoga asana, Vaishnavism), and on the eastern wall is Durga (an aspect of Parvati,&nbsp;Shaktism).

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The golden Vimana over the sanctum at Srirangam midst its gopurams, its gable with Paravasudeva image.The exterior of the&nbsp;vimana&nbsp;and attached&nbsp;mandapam&nbsp;(hall) have intricately carved pilasters with fluted shafts, double capitals, and pendant lotus brackets. Sculptures are placed in the niches of three sides of the sanctuary walls; maidens enhance the walls in between. The elevation is punctuated with a secondary set of pilasters that support shallow eaves at different levels to cap larger and smaller recesses. The sanctuary is crowned in the traditional fashion with a hemispherical roof.

The double-curved eaves of the entrance porch on the east side are concealed in a later columned hall.&nbsp;Dhanvantari, a great physician of the Hindu mythos is considered to be an&nbsp;avatar&nbsp;of Vishnu&nbsp;&ndash; there is a separate shrine of Dhanvantari within the temple.The shrine of Ranganatha&#39;s consort, Ranganayaki (Lakshmi) is in the second precinct of the temple with 2 main idols (moola mortis) and 1 procession idol (utsava murti). During the festival processions, Ranganayaki does not visit Ranganatha, but it is he who visits her. Ranganatha visiting Ranganayaki and being with her is called as &#39;Saerthi&#39; during &#39;Panguni Uthiram&#39;. There are three images of Ranganayaki within the sanctum.There are separate shrines for major saints in the&nbsp;Vaishnava&nbsp;tradition, including&nbsp;Ramanuja.

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Highlights

Sevas/Festivals

<h3>Vaikunta Ekadashi</h3>

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The Paramapada vaasal opens only during the 10 day festival of Vaikunta Ekadasi

Pagal Pathu&nbsp;(10 day time) and&nbsp;Ra Pathu&nbsp;(10 night time) festival is celebrated in the month of&nbsp;Margazhi&nbsp;(December&ndash;January) for twenty days. The first ten days are referred as&nbsp;Pagal-Pathu&nbsp;(10-day time festival) and the second half as&nbsp;Ra Pathu&nbsp;(10 day night-time festival). The first day of&nbsp;Ra pathu&nbsp;is&nbsp;Vaikunta Ekadashi.&nbsp;The eleventh day of each fortnight in&nbsp;Hindu calendar&nbsp;is called&nbsp;ekadasi&nbsp;and the holiest of all&nbsp;ekadasis&nbsp;as per&nbsp;vaishnavite&nbsp;tradition is the&nbsp;Vaikunta Ekadashi. During the festival, through song and dance, this place is affirmed to be&nbsp;Bhooloka Vaikuntam&nbsp;(Heaven on Earth).&nbsp;

Araiyar Sevai&nbsp;is a divine colloquium of araiyars, who recite and enact&nbsp;Nalayara Divya Prabanda, the 4000 verses of&nbsp;Alvars.Araiyars&nbsp;are born to&nbsp;Araiyar&nbsp;tradition most prevalent in Sri Vaishnava families in Srirangam,&nbsp;Alwar Thirunagari&nbsp;and&nbsp;Srivilliputhur.

The tradition of Araiyar Sevai was started by&nbsp;Nathamuni&nbsp;during 10th century.It is believed as per&nbsp;Hindu mythology&nbsp;that 33 crores of gods come down to witness the event.&nbsp;The processional deity is brought to the 1000-pillared hall on the morning of&nbsp;Vaikunta Ekadashi&nbsp;through the&nbsp;Paramapada Vasal&nbsp;(gate to paradise).Lakhs of pilgrims rush to enter it after the gate is opened and the deity passes through it as it is believed that one who enters here will reach&nbsp;vaikuntam&nbsp;(heaven) after death. The gate is open only during the ten days of&nbsp;Ra Pathu&nbsp;(10-day night-time festival).

On the last day of the festival, the poet&nbsp;Nammazhwar&nbsp;is said to be given salvation. The performance is enacted by priests and images in the temple depicts Nammazhwar as reaching heaven and getting liberation from the cycle of life and death. At that point, a member from the crowd of devotees, who are witnessing this passion play, goes up to the centre stage and requests Vishnu to return Nammazhwar to humanity, so that his words and form in the temple will continue to inspire and save the devotees. Following this performance of the salvation of Nammazhwar, the cantors are taken in procession round the temple.

Jyestabisheka 
The annual gold ornament cleaning festival is called&nbsp;Jyestabisheka&nbsp;(first of anointing) and is celebrated during the&nbsp;Tamil month&nbsp;of&nbsp;aani&nbsp;(June&ndash;July). The icons of all deities are abluted with water brought in large vessels of gold and silver.

Brahmotsavam 
Brahmotsavam&nbsp;(Prime festival) is held during the Tamil month of&nbsp;Panguni&nbsp;(March&ndash;April). The preliminaries like&nbsp;ankurarpanam,&nbsp;rakshabandhanam,&nbsp;bheri thadanam,&nbsp;dhwajarohanam&nbsp;and the sacrificial offerings in the&nbsp;yagasala&nbsp;are gone through as usual. The processions go round the Chitrai street in the evenings. On the second day, the deity is taken to a garden inside the temple. The deity is taken in a palanquin through the river&nbsp;Kaveri&nbsp;to a village on the opposite shore namely Jiyarpuram on the third day.

Other Festivals 
The annual temple chariot festival, called&nbsp;Rathothsavam&nbsp;is celebrated during the Tamil month of&nbsp;thai&nbsp;(January&ndash;February) and the processional deity,&nbsp;utsavar&nbsp;is taken round the temple in the temple car.&nbsp;Chitra Poornima&nbsp;is a festival based on the mythological incident of&nbsp;Gajendra Moksha&nbsp;(elephant crocodile). The elephant suffered in the jaws of crocodile and god rescued the elephant.&nbsp;Vasanthothsavam&nbsp;is celebrated during the Tamil month of&nbsp;vaikasi&nbsp;(May&ndash;June) which according to inscriptions is celebrated from 1444 CE.

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Timing

<h2>Pooja &amp; Darshan Timings</h2>

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<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1" style="width:100%">
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td style="vertical-align:middle">Viswaroopa seva</td>
			<td style="vertical-align:middle">06:00</td>
			<td style="vertical-align:middle">to</td>
			<td style="vertical-align:middle">07:15</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td style="vertical-align:middle">(No Darshan) - Pooja time</td>
			<td style="vertical-align:middle">07:15</td>
			<td style="vertical-align:middle">to</td>
			<td style="vertical-align:middle">09:00</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td style="vertical-align:middle">Darshan Timings</td>
			<td style="vertical-align:middle">09:00</td>
			<td style="vertical-align:middle">to</td>
			<td style="vertical-align:middle">12:00</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td style="vertical-align:middle">(No Darshan) - Pooja time</td>
			<td style="vertical-align:middle">12:00</td>
			<td style="vertical-align:middle">to</td>
			<td style="vertical-align:middle">13:15</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td style="vertical-align:middle">Darshan Timings</td>
			<td style="vertical-align:middle">13:15</td>
			<td style="vertical-align:middle">to</td>
			<td style="vertical-align:middle">18:00</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td style="vertical-align:middle">(No Darshan) - Pooja time</td>
			<td style="vertical-align:middle">18:00</td>
			<td style="vertical-align:middle">to</td>
			<td style="vertical-align:middle">18:45</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td style="vertical-align:middle">Darshan Timings</td>
			<td style="vertical-align:middle">18:45</td>
			<td style="vertical-align:middle">to</td>
			<td style="vertical-align:middle">21:00</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

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The Srirangam Temple opening time is 6 am, beginning with Viswaroopa seva that lasts for one hour and 15 minutes during which prayers are offered to the &ldquo;Universal Form&rdquo; of Lord Vishnu as an amalgamation of all his various avatars or forms. Darshan is prohibited for visitors from 7:15 am to 9 am, during which time pooja is conducted within the inner sanctum. At 9 am, the doors of the inner sanctum are opened for darshan and are kept open for visitors until 12 pm. Subsequent Srirangam darshan timings are from 1 pm to 6 pm and 6:45 pm to 9 pm, which is when the temple closes.

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