Architecture
A temple town steeped in myth
and mystique

A new fanciful oddity has arisen due to an unusual excitement which is now gripping the Sri Lankans. They have suddenly woken up to find that the cause of their ethnic conflict is none other than the presiding deity of Sri Ranganatha Swamy. Tejwant Singh describes the shrine which, according to them, is emitting ’malefic rays’ on their emerald island!

COME winter and all routes will lead to the hallowed island shrine of the Sri Ranganatha Swamy (Lord Vishnu) which is encircled by the Kaveri river and its artificially created channel called Coleroon (both dry now-thanks to various dams and barrages) at Sri Rangam, Tamil Nadu. This channel was dug to protect the temple from annual floods in 1025 AD.

The reason? Apart from the main festivals (observed between November-April) an interesting dimension has been added to this Vaishnavite temple this year which the pilgrims and other visitors would like to experience for themselves.

A new fanciful oddity has arisen due to an unusual excitement which is now gripping the Sri Lankans. They have suddenly woken up to find that the cause of their ethnic conflict is none other than the presiding deity of this shrine, which according to them, is emitting ’malefic rays’ on their emerald island!

Mercifully, however, they have also found a remedy which is stranger than the cause itself! Advised by their religious heads, the Sri Lanka authorities have launched a ‘divine initiative’ to construct a Vishnu Temple of their own near Colombo at a whopping cost of SL Rs 600 million! The image of Lord Vishnu will alone cost SL Rs 100 million. The money will come from big business houses and tea plantations in Sri Lanka.

This image is supposed to look back at Sri Rangam and ward-off the ‘harmful rays’! But it is not clear whose rays will be more powerful! Will they build another shrine if in case the first one is found to be deficient? Well, that’s the headache of the religious advisers. The devotees will be immensely benefitted and it will also swell up in the coffers of the Sri Lankan government from the increased flow of the tourists! However, it is gathered from the local people at the town of Trichy (Tiruchirapalli) that the momentum of publicity as it grows, will be beneficial to both countries. But all this fuss attributed to Lord Vishnu is indeed very amusing. He is known as the benign provider and means no harm to anyone. But Sri Lanka is not taking any chances. And since Sri Lanka is a Buddhist country, the project will be an inter-religious centre.

Now let we see why this temple is singled out, leaving many other historical temples of region. Well, the reason can be found in the legend which surrounds this shrine. It goes on to explain that one of the illustrious kings of the Suryavanshi dynasty was king Ikshvaku. He meditated on Lord Ranga Natha and received the image of the Lord in the form of Ranga Vimana (sanctuary) which passed on to his descendant Lord Rama who himself was an incarnation of Lord Vishnu. This Ranga Vimana embodying the deity of Lord Vishnu was presented by Lord Rama to his devotee Vibhishana on the occasion of the coronation of the former at Ayodhya. But when Vibhishana was on his way back to Lanka, he needed rest and placed the idol on the ground by the water-tank called Chandra Pushkarna (this tank is still there inside the temple complex). However, the idol got stuck there to the grief of Vibhishana. To console him, Lord Vishnu appeared in person and promised to continue showering his blessings on him as well as his new kingdom, Lanka. Later, according to the Puranas, King Dharma Varman found the spot and built the temple there with the deity in a reclining position. Ever since, this deity remains there, facing Lanka.

Legend apart, this shrine has witnessed many upheavals in this millennium. In 1311 AD, Malik Kafur had carried out a lightning raid on this temple and took away a golden statue of the Lord (not the reclining one) to Delhi. But as luck would have it, his daughter, Thulukka fell in love with this statue. Meanwhile, some Tamil devotees got back the statue from Malik Kafur and the princess followed them to Sri Rangam. And died in the temple at the feet of the Lord. She was then, raised to the level of goddess and worshipped as Sri Thulukka Nachiyar. In 1321 AD, it was the turn of Muhammad-bin-Tughlak but the priests had already sent away the treasure toTirupati, from where it was brought back after the raiders had cleared out. Hyder Ali in 1781 and Tipu Sultan in 1791 also took their turns but evacuated in the face of the advancing English Army of the East India Company who brought peace to the Carnatic region. The temple was placed under the jurisdiction of the Collector, John Wallace.

This is the first temple where the re-organisation of the temple’s administration carried out by the philosopher-saint Ramanuja is still observed. He lived here between 1017-1137 AD. Sprawling in an area of 156 acres, Sri Rangam is also the largest temple complex in India. It is protected within seven enclosures and towers. It has now taken the shape of a small township and all the temple staff reside here with their families. The jobs of these priests are hereditary which means they have to be born in Sri Rangam.

A visit toSri Ragam is not complete without going to the Rockfort temple of Lord Vinayaka. Other temples in the vicinity are those of Lord Subramanya on a hill, Brajamdeeshwarar temple and many other historical shrines.

UNESCO selected Sri Rangam as a national heritage in 1966, and renovated it under the supervision of a famous British architect, George Wright and an art historian, Jeanninne Auboyar. Thus, one can imagine the great importance of this place where India’s cultural and architectural heritage is firmly anchored in the imposing but delicately carved idols, gopurams, figurines, pillars and porches.