||   Sri Ranganaatha Mahimai: Part 6.1   ||

The Rajagopuram of Srirangam, built by H.H Srimath 45th Pattam Azhgiya Singar of Ahobila Matam

In this posting , I will cover the history of the temple of Srirangam and the Moolavar , Uthsavar and other deities at this ancient temple. The reason for focus in this area is to indicate how the planned Pomona temple for the Lord is going to be a prototype in many ways to the Lord's temple at Srirangam . With the construction of the Pomona Temple for the Divya dampathis of Srirangam , we are going to link up with the ancient history of the temple of Srirangam . I invite all the BhakthAs of Sri RanganAthA to become part of this ancient history , which forms the doundation stone of Sri VaishNava SampradhAyam .

The objectives of this posting on Srirangam
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This posting will assemble complimentary information , which will help to gain a perspective on the magnificient effort underway to create a temple at Pomona , NY for Sri RanganAyaki SamEtha Sri RanganAyakan incorporating most of the significant sannidhis at Srirangam . That is why your support for the " Bricks of the Temple " project assumes a very special significance .Please help support this " Brick Collection " kaimkaryam . I can vouch that nothing but MangaLam will result from your and your family's association with this kaimkaryam . As BhakthAs walk over the bricks of the PrAkaarams to reach the Sannidhi of the Divya Dampathis and AchAryAs , they will chase away the obstacles that cloud our vision of experiencing the Divya Dampathis of Srirangam .

History of the Srirangam Temple
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The history of the temple is very ancient one . One can split the history into the pre-historical and the historical period .

Pre-historic period
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Under the pre-histroic period come the avathAram of Sri RanganAthA under the Revathi constellation in response to BrahmA's tapas as Svayam vyaktha mUrthy . King IshvAku , the son of Vaivaswatha Manu performed an austere penance towards BrahmA and as a result , he was blessed to have the Sriranga Vimanam housing Sri Ranganaathan move to a new home in AyOddhi , his capital . This became the family asset ( Kula dhanam ) of all of the Soorya Kula kings that followed IshvAku down to Sri RamachandrA .

After His coronation , Sri Ramachandran gave SriranganAthan with the Sriranga vimAnam as a gift to King VibheeshaNA and commanded latter to perform ArAdhanam to Sri Ranganathan . On the way to LankhA , the Lord changed His mind about settling down in LankhA and decided to stay forever in the verdant island of Srirangam formed by the rivers CauvEri and KoLLidam .

The hand gestures of the Lord of Srirangam
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Here at the puNya bhUmi of Srirangam , He rests on the five-headed AdhisEshan facing south towards LankhA . He is giving Darsanam to His votary, VibheeshaNA and is looking southwards at SrivilliputthUr , the place of birth of his dear consort , ANDAL .

In His reclining position , His right hand points to His crown to indicate that He is the Emperor and the origin of all chEthanAs and AchEthanAs . His left hand points to His charaNa kamalams (lotus feet) with the Divya MaNi PaadhukhAs saluted by Swami Desikan . He seems to suggest that His ThiruvadigaLs are the only refuge for those , who wish to cross the fearsome ocean of SamsAram .

Historical period of Temple Constrcution
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The ChOLA king , Dharma Varman built the temple and Mantapam around the vimAnam left behind by VibhishaNA . After his time , the sands from the floods of Cauveri buried the VimAnam and PerumAL for quite some time. Another ChOLA king known as KiLLi ChOzhan was traveling by the banks of CauvEri and was wonder struck to hear the incessant warbling of two hymns on Sriman NaarAyaNA by a parrot perched on a tree near by. He dug the place and to his great surprise found the Sriranga VimAnam and BhagavAn resting on AdhisEshA under the sands. He carried out many renovations and maintained the worship of the Lord at His temple.

Raja Mahendra and Nanda ChOlA kings
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The devout bhakthA of Sri RanganAthan by the name of Raja MahEndra ChOlan followed and added many features to the temple including a PrAhAram named after him . That prAhAram stands even today .

Next , Nanda ChOLan , a descendant of Dharma Varman ruling over NisuLApuri ( WorayUr ) prayed to the Lord to bless him with progeny . The Lord answered his prayer and the king found a baby girl on the top of a giant lotus in the lotus pond . He named the child Kamlavalli and raised her as his own child . When Kamalavalli reached the age of marriage , she desired to marry only Sri Ranganathan . The Lord of Srirangam married her and she became WorayUr nAcchiyAr. The king became the father-in-law of the Lord and ceded his wealth to his son-in-law and built many mantapams and nandavanams .

KulasEkara PerumAL of KollinAdu
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He ruled over the chEra , chOLa and PaandyA kingdoms and was a great bhakthA of the Lord of Srirangam . Like Nanda ChoLA , KulasEkhara PerumAL married his daughter , Charakula Valli to Sri RanganAthan and spent his last days at the feet of the Lord .

Fifth Centruy A.D
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A king from Bengal came to visit Sri RanganAthA and brought with him enormous wealth to cede to the Lord for His ArAdhanam . The jealous administrators of the temple refused to accept the offered wealth. The king left the wealth that he brought with him at the threshold of one of the gates and posted some of his soldiers and Brahmins to protect it and returned home . The Lord was very pleased with the king's Bhakthi and instructed His temple adhikAris to accept the offered wealth .That gate , where the wealth of the king rested is known today as "Aryapadal Vaasal " .

Thirumangai mannan and his contributions to Temple expansion
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In the 9th century A.D , Thirumangai mannan built the ramparts around the temple , raised the height of the temple , created DasAvathAra Sannidhi and developed many nandavanams.

The Kaimkaryam of the CHOLA and PaandyA Kings
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ChOLENdra Simman , Gangai ThEvan Singan , ThANda Naicker , AgaLangan alias Vikrama chOLan , Sundara Paandyan alias ponn vEynhta PerumAL , KulOthunga ChOLA were the next generation kings who presente dthe Lord with many AabharaNams , Golden pUjA Vessels and the gold covered dhvaja sthambham . Dr.A. Gopinath of Bishop Heber College , ThiruchirapaLLI has written a very informative article on the temple construction at Srirangam over the centuries .

Sultan of Delhi & his daughter (Tulukka NaacchiyAr)
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After the time of the above kings, the Delhi Sultan plundered the Srirangam temple and took with him the archA mUrthy, Sri RanganAthA . His daughter fell in love with the beauty of the Lord and kept the Lord in her bed chambers and adored Him . A group of scholars from Srirangam came to the sultan's court and appealed to the sultan to give them permission to take Sri RanganAthA back to Srirangam . The Sultan agred and the visitors to the court rushed back before the sultAni became aware of her loss .

The next morning , the sultAni found about the travel of her beloved Lord back to Srirangam and she left Delhi immediately to join her Lord. She arrived at Srirangam with her father and could not find her beloved Lord . She died there heart broken. Her devotion has earned her a sannidhi for her. She is saluted as Tulukka NaacchiyAr . Her sannidhi is now at the King Raja MahEndran veethi ( N.E.Thirunadai palace ) .

The sultan was very unhappy. He tried to locate the site, where the temple authorities had hidden Sri RanganAthan and finally gave up his search and returned to his capital. Three kodavars guarded the image of the Lord at the foot of a waterfall in Thirumalai .

For nearly 60 years , the Lord stayed at Thirumalai and finally the word leaked that the Lord is kept at Thirumalai . GoppaNNa UdayAr , the minister of the VijayanagarA king HarihararAyar and Chenchi ruler came to Thirumalai and carried Sri RenganAtha and Sri RenganAyaki back to Srirangam . The year was 1293 AD ( Tamil year ParithApi ) . In that Year , on May 17th , the two kings performed consecration ceremonies at Srirangam and installed Sri RanganAthA and Sri RanganAyaki in their ancient home .

A King's doubt and the banishmnet of that doubt
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There was some doubts in the mind of the then king Rajendra ChOLA whether the returned ArchA mUrthy was indeed the original Azhagiya MaNavALan . A dhObhi used to doing laundry kaimkaryam for the Lord partook the Thirumanjana jalam wrung from the wet vasthram of the Lord and identified the authenticity of the returned Lord as the original Sri RanganAthan .

The Lord was pleased with the King's sevai and appeared in his dream and blessed him . He is the king, who created a sannidhi for SuratthAni ( Tulukka NaacchiyAr ) , the daughter of the Delhi Sultan . This king also left endowments for offering bread , sweet dhAl , Kicchadi and milk to Saanthu nAcchiyAr .

We will cover the period from Sri RaamAnujA's time at Srirangam to that of the present time in the next posting .

Sri RanganAyaki SamEtha Sri RangarAja ParabrahmaNE Nama :
Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri Sadagopan

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