Sri Ranganatha Swamy temple located near Tiruchirappalli Tamil Nadu is known as Bloka Vikantham the heaven on earth. Bloka Vikantham the heaven on earth. Here Lord Ranganatha rests upon the divine serpent Adisa beneath the golden prana of Ammana spanning over 156 acres with 21 towering gopuram and seven grand enclosures. This is India largest temple complex. And the largest living Hindu temple in the world. Let’s explore the divine beauty and the rich history of Sri Ranganatha.
Distance:-
The sriangam railway station is close to the temple but most trains stop at Tiruchirappalli junction. Stayaing at yatri nivas guest house in srangam, located about 9 KM from the railway station. Buses stop nearby , and from there, it is a 1 journey to the guest house by auto or taxi reached Yatri Nivas just a few meters away from the kollidem river. At Yatri Nivas, rooms can be booked by calling +9486482246, 9772043295, Online booking not available. Here a view of the cottages, parking area, and the vag hotel inside.
Raja Gopuram:-
The x Temple is located on an island between the Kaveri and Kollidam rivers near Tiruchirappalli it is also known as periya koli, bhoolaka vaikutam bhoga mandapam, and Andarkon Arangam Srirangam is truly amazing, the first among the 108 divya darsam, and the largest religest complex in the world still in active worship, with a long and continuous history.
The Raja gopuram rises about 239 feet with 13 beautiful tiers. It’s the tallest tower in asia and the temple complex spreads over156 acres the Raja Gopuram remained incomplete for over 400 years. Construction started under Achyuta deva raya of the Vijayanagar Empire, but stopped after the emire fell. It was finally completed in 1987, reaching 73 meters, or 240 feet the project was initiated by the 44th jeeyar of the ahobila mutt, Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikan, and completed over eight years with the support of devotees and organizations. The Raja Gopuram was consecrated on march 25, 1987, marking an important milestone in the temple history.
Temple has seven Prakarams, for tiru Veedhis, Withmassive walls around the sanctum, stretching over 32,592 feet, or morethan six miles.
In the outer three prakarams, you’ll agraharams where temple related brahmins live, along with commercial centers hotels, and pooja flower shops that with commercial centers hotels, and pooja flower shops that fill the streets. The foure inner prakarams enclose the heart of the temple containing the sanctum of lord Ranganatha, along with sacred shrines and mandapams the Srirangam temple was first built during the Chola dynasty dharma varma chola played the main role, and later king Killivalavan Chola contributed to its reconstruction over 800 inscription in the temple, from the 9th-16th centuries, record contributions by the Chola, Pandya, Hoysala, Vijayanagara, and Nayak Dynasties. After passing the three outer streets Uthra Street, Chitra Street and Adayavalanjan Street you reach the famous ranga ranga gopuram.
Ranga Ranga Gopuram:-
The famous ranga ranga gopuram . Beyond this point, there are no regular shops or houses.
The darshan entrance is located next to the main gopuram. To the right of the ranga ranga gopuram, you can see elephants blessing the devotees, and people offering then fruits. Srirangam temple endured invasions by the delhi sultanate in 1311 and 1323, was later restored under the Vijayanagara empire witnessed conficts between the mughais and nayaks and later came under british rule until 1947 after passing the fourth prakaram we enter the Ranga Vilasa Mandapam a large, pillared hall used for temple ceremonies and processions. We reach the Karthika Gopuram and enter the fifth prakarm at the entrance, directions to the temple are shown on both sides the Ramanuja Sannidhi is on the right. And you can see Garuda Mandapam, named after Garuda, lord Vishnu sacred Vahana the pillars have beautiful portrait carving in the center is the Garuda Sannidi, facing the main sanctum. The Garuda idol is huge and majestic opposite the Garuda temple is the sixth Gopuram. From here devotees go for lord Ranganatha Swamy darshan. Both regular and special darshan are available. The seventh prakaram is the temple innermost and most sacred area mostly hidden from the outer prakarams, it has Garbha griha, where lord Ranganatha rests on ad sesha after darshan, here is lord Ranganatha, resting on adisesha the divine seper the idol, about twenty feet long, appears caim and graceful. His head restes on a pillow, and his right hand is raised in blessing. Above the sanctum, you can see the golden vimana gopuram. It is shaped loke the Tamil Omkara and has beautiful carving of Vishnu four on all sides. You can even see it clearly from the nearby mandapam. The shrine of Sri Ranganayaki Thayar, the divine consort of lord Ranganatha, is situed within the second inner enclosure of the temple complex. The Srirangam temple complex has over 50 shrines, each dedicated to Lord Vishnu, Goddess Laksmi, great Vaishnava saints, and famous poets in the Vishnu shrines, you can see his different forms and avatars. There are shrines for Chakrathalwar, Narasima, Rama, Hayagriva, Vasudeva, Varadaraja, Srinivasa and Gopala Krishna, among other. There are separate shrines for the main saints in the Vaishnava tradition, including Ramanuja, Nammalvar, Desikar, Thondaradippodialvar, and Thiruppanalvar.
Let us discover the divine origin of lord ranganathas idol at srirangam according to legend, the idol of lord Vishnu was first worshipped by brahma during treta yuga. Later, it came into the hands of lord rama Vibhishana, the noble brother of Ravana, supported rama in the battle of lanka. After victory, Rama gifted him the shrine of lord Ranganatha along with the Pranavakara Vimana on the way to Lanka, during Sandhyavandana, Vibhishana placed the idol on the banks of the kaveri at Chandrapushkarani. But the idol would not move, for the lord chose to stay, facing south over time, the place became overgrown unit a Chola king discovered it and built the Srirangam Ranganatha temple. Since then, Srirangam ghas been the sacred home of lord Ranganatha. The temple has many Mandapams and hills. The thousand pillared hall and the Seshrayar Mandapam are among the most notable ones the thousand pillar Mandapam actually has 953 granite pillars and is made of granite. It was built during the Vijayanagara period. A wide central passage runs througe the hall, with sven side aisles on each side. All the pillars are arranged in asquare pattern, showing the amazing architectural skill of ancient times. The easterngopuram of srirangam temple stands as a testament to the heart touching story of vellayi. Let’s return to it later. This is the sesharayar mandapam a beautifull carved hall from the nayak period. The single stone pillars are carved with forty leaping animals, with figures of horsemen depicted behind them the hall is know for its detailed stone architecture and aristic carvings here inside the sesharayar mandapam we can see these beautiful stone carving all around the tall granite pillars are filed with such fine details and among them, you can see many divine forms.
Vellayi Gopuram:-
A white that tells a story of courage and devotion in 1323, Srirangam was attacked by the sultanate army thousands of devotees lost their lives protecting the temple and deity to save namperumal idol, Vellayi a devoted devadasi, risked her life. She danced in front of the soldiers for hours, holding them spellbound and giving time for idol to escape at the end, she struck down the commander and leapt from the tower chanting ranganthar’s name in her memory, the tower was named vellayi gopuram.
Chandra Pushkarani:-
The Chandra Pushkarani a sacred temple pond like on the northem side of the Srirangam temple complex. Beside it stands the holy punnai tree. The shala Vriksham of Srirangam.
Temple Time:-
You can have darshan from 6 AM to 12 PM, the there is a break from 12PM to 1 PM. From 1PM, the reopens till 6PM. After anther one-hour break at 6 PM, the finally closes at 8:30 PM. These are temple timings.
Location:-
Tiruchirapalli, Madurai, Tami Nanu
