Jayathu Sri RanaganAtha: Jayathu Sri RanganAyaki !--Part 6

[Guest guest]

Dear Sri RanganAtha PrEmis :

 

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 constrcution

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 .

 

Postings on Srirangam

**********************

 

Our Sri Rengarajan has writeen extensively about the festivals

of Srirangam , the city of Srirangam and sthala purANam

earlier . I refer the readers to his postings on

the Bhakthi archives . Other members have written about

special festivals such as Sri Vaikunta EkAdasi festival .

 

The objectives of this posting on Srirangam

********************************************

 

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 .

 

The two Home Pages for Srirangam & Pomona Temples

**************************************************

 

The extraordnarily beautiful home page created for

Srirangam in the context of the 108 Divya Desam

CD ROM project and the Pomona temple home page are

getting ready ; I had the benefit of a "sneak preview"

We can not hold it back from you too long .

The content of these home pages will map the verisimilitude of

the ArchA mUrthys and other deities and sannidhis

at both the temples just as Sri Sreyas Sarangan

and Sri Govindarajan of Canada did for the divya desams

of Oppiliappan Koil and ThiruveLLarai last year .

Our Special thanks this time to our

Sri P.Dileepan for the creation of these two

beautiful Sri RanganAthA home pages with a wealth of

pictorial Images . We are hurrying up for you to

see thm and pass it on to friends and relatives

to encourage them to take part in this MahA Kaimkaryam .

We are not kings and Queens and we do not have the tapas

of the great MahAn , His holiness the 44th Jeeyar , who

completed the south Gopuram for Sri RanganathA wiht its

thirteen nilais ( towers ) . We can however be blessed

to join in this kaimkaryam here and now.

 

When you would have the opportunity of darsana

sowbhaagyam of the ArchA mUrthys at both the temples ,

you will come to the conclusion that the Pomona

temple is like a lamp that has been lit

from the akanta dheepam at Srirangam garbhagraham and

brought over here for our spiritual well being .It is

indeed a dheepa-pradheepam .The PaancharAthra Agama

worship at the Pomona temple is identical to the

rules laid out by AchArya RaamAnuja Muni for the

Srirangam temple .With great care , thought and

blessings of our AchAryAs , we have come this far

and the rest of the effort has to come to fruition

with the blessings of the divya dampathis of Srirangam .

 

History of the Srirangam Temple

*******************************

 

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

********************

 

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

*******************************************

 

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

*****************************************

 

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 travelling

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

************************************

 

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

********************************

 

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

******************

 

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

**************************************************************

 

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. Our Sri Sampath Rengarajan

will be writing about Thirumangai Mannan's

kaimkaryams soon .

 

The Kaimkaryam of the CHOLA and PaandyA Kings

**********************************************

 

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)

*****************************************************

 

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

***********************************************

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