Home

 Sthalapuranam

Srirangam is one of the eight Svayamvrutha Kshetram.

Many years ago, lord Brahma performed penance on lord Vishnu. Lord Vishnu, by seeing lord Brahma's devotion, appeared in front of him and gave an option to ask for a boon (varam). Lord Brahma, being a pure devotee, asked for an idol of 'shree ranganaadhar' (the sleeping posture of lord Vishnu on Adhi shEsha) for his worship. So lord Vishnu granted the boon.

Many years after this, ikshvaaku the forefather of raghu dynasty,  performed a very long penance on lord Brahma. So lord Brahma was pleased with the king ikshvaaku's devotion and gave an option to ask for a boon. So king ikshvaaku asked for Sri  Ranganathar's  idol which Brahma had and he was worshipping. But still lord Brahma gave that Sri  Ranganathar's  idol to King ikshvaaku, since the penance was sincere

So Sri  Ranganathar's idol was passed to his descendants and at last came in to the hands of king dhasharaTha and finally to his son Sri Rama. Hence the idol was worshipped by the entire raghu dynasty and finally stayed at Sri Rama's hands.

After the completion of war between Sri Rama  and Ravana, VibheeShana and all other accompanied Rama in VibheeShana's   Pushpaka Vimaanam, Then Sri Rama' Coronation took place. In the End  shree Rama asked vibheeShana to request a boon since he was his devotee

Now it was shree VibheeShana's turn. He took the chance and asked the idol of shree ranganaadhar, which was worshipped by shree Rama himself. shree Rama granted his wish and handed over shree ranganaadhar idol by warning that if the idol should not be kept down until he reaches Sri Lanka  . If he places it down then , it will remain there itself.

When shree vibheeShana was taking the idol to shree Lanka, he wanted to perform sandhya vandhanam, as it was evening. BY that time he was in Srirangam and on the banks of river kaavEri And Kollidam. And then appeared lord Vigneshwar in the disguise  of a cowherd boy, and stood in front of  vibheeShana. By seeing the cowherd boy, shree vibheeShana requested him to hold the idol until he finishes the sandhya vandhanam, and he should not keep it down. The cowherd  accepts and puts  a condition that if he is not able to hold the idol due to its weight then he will call  vibheeShana three times . And after calling three times , and if  vibheeShana doesn't come, he will place the idol down. Our cowherd boy calls shree VibheeShana's name 3 times continuously and immediately places shree ranganaadhar idol on the banks of river kaavEri.

vibheeShaNar becomes so anger on our cowherd boy and tries to hit him. But the cowherd boy ran and sat on top of the near by small hillock  and takes his own form -Vigneshwar,  vibheeShana chases and , hits on the head of Vigneshwars head, where even now we can see a slight bump on Vigneshwars idol there (uchchi pillayaar kOyil).

shree vibheeShana returns to the place where shree ranganaadhar idol was placed and felt very sad that he was not able to even lift the idol from that place. At that time, Sri Rangarajar  appeared before him and said that whatever has happened is for the sake of world's good and there is no need to worry and also shree ranganaadhar says that though he is in this Bhartha kandam, he will be watching his land - shree lanka. And every day it is said vibheeShana comes to Srirangam in the night to do pooja and returns to Lanka in the morning.

A chOla ruler by name Dharmavarma is said to have created a temple here.

Among the Alwars Thondaradippodi Alwar did Nandavana Pushpa Kanikaryam and Our Thirumangai Alwar also known as Kaliyan did Thiru Madill Kanikaryam.

Here Kavi Chakravarthi Kambar did the Ramayana Arangentram  in the Mandapam, Then Azagiasingar  ( Narasimha Murthy) He is said to have blessed  him, this Metu Azagiasingars Sannidhi  is  near Thayar Sannidhi .

It is the place where Lord Ranganatha Conferred the tittle of Udayavar to Bhagavan Ramanuja. It is the same place where Swami Desikan was Conferred the Kavitharki Simham and Sarvathantra Swathantrar.

It is the place where Manavala Ma Munigal was asked by Nam Perumal to do the Thiruvai Mozi Kalashepam , then Nam Perumal came in form of a child and recited Sri Saila Dayapatram Dhaniyan on Manavala Munigal.

Location of the temple :Situated in Trichy district in Tamil Nadu. 3/4 miles away from Sri Rangam railway station which is in between Vizhupuram - Trichy railway lane. Plenty of buses and lodging facilities are available.

Appearance of the sthalam: There are 7 prahaarams (big walls - completely built by thirumangai aazhwaar) found around this temple covering next to next each other. The 7 walls are referred to 7 worlds. The 7th wall is the outer wall which can be seen and it is 3,072 feet in length and 2,521 feet in breadth. For 7 prahaarams, 7 Thiru Veedhi (streets) are found. 7th Thiru veedhi is called "chiththirai thiru Veedhi". 6th Thiru Veedhi, which is found in 6th Praharam is called "Thiru vikraman Thiru veedhi". 5th Thiru Veedhi in 5th Praharam is "agalangan Thiru Veedhi". 4th Thiru Veedhi in 4th Praharam is "aalinaadhan Thiru veedhi". 3rd Thiru veedhi in 3rd Praharam is "Kula shEkarar Thiru veedhi". 2nd Thiru veedhi in 2nd Praharam is "raaja mahEndhrar thiru veedhi". And in the 1st Praharam, emperumaan shree ranganaaTha swami in kidandha Thirukolam gives sEva and this is called "Dharma varmar thiruchchutru (circle)". Total area of this temple is almost 155½ acres, and 6 miles in area. There are total of 21 gOpurams in this temple. The weight of the gOpuram is 24,880 tons.

The gOpuram of shree Rangam is called as "Raaja gOpuram" and it is the Asia's no.1 biggest gOpuram. It took almost 7½ years to complete the construction. The height of the gOpuram is 236 feet with 13 nilayaas. 12 kalashams are kept on the top of raaja gOpuram. It was constructed by 44th Petathipathi of Ahobila Mutt H H Mukkur Azagiasingar

Special things associated with this place:

1) Asia's tallest gOpuram.


2) The only place which received maximum number of Alwar's mangala saasanam (Pasurams) ( By 10 Alwar and Andal)

3) Birth place of shree Periya nambhigal (Udayvar's guru), Battar vadakku thiru veedhi pillai and Pillai lOkaachaariyar.

4) Moksha Sthalam of kula shEkara Alwar , thondaradippodi Alwar, Andal, thiruppaaNai Alwar, thuluka/Bibi Nachiyar, And Udayavar.

5) The whole 7 prahaarams are built by thirumangai aazhwaar alone and this pleased shree ranganaadhar and gave dharshanam to him.

6) This was the place where thondaradippodi aazhwaar performed garden Kanikaryam for shree ranganaadhar.