Jayathu Sri Ranganayaki SamEtha Sri Ranganayaka : --Part 7

[Guest guest]

Dear Sri Ranganatha PrEmis :

 

Historical Srirangam ( Continued )

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The divya dEsam of Srirangam is a 600 acre

island town . The town of TiruchirAppaLLi

located 5 kms from Srirangam has been the citadel of

the Early ChOLAs .It fell into the hands of PallavAs ,

who ruled from their capital of Kanchi .The PallavAs

could not however retain control of this strategic

city of TiruchirAppaLLi and the temple town of Srirangam .

They ( the PallavAs ) lost them to the PaandyAs , who

ruled from their nearby capital of Mathurai .The later ChOLA

kings asserted their power around the 10th century and drove

out the PaandyA kings .They ( ChOLAs ) held Tirucchi , MalaikkOttai

( 83 meter high rock fort ) and Srirangam until the time of

the peak period of Vijayanagara Kings .

 

Post-Vijayanagaram period

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The Vijayanagar empire collapsed in 1565 A.D and

the ensuing weakness of the power of those kings led to

the control of the town of TirucchirAppaLLI and Srirangam

divya desam under a succession of rulers such as

the Nayaks of Mathurai ,the MarAthAs , the Nawabs of Carnatic ,

the French and finally the British . Our Lord RanganathA

has watched all of these empires come and go across milleneums .

Countless kings have served Him and have been blessed

by Him . A precious line of AchAryAs have surrendered to

Him and spread His message . It is that queue , where we

stand as we wish to offer " THE BRICK KIAMKARYAM " FOR

THE BUILDING OF HIS TEMPLE HERE IN NORTH AMERICA.

PLEASE SUPPORT THIS KAIMKARYAM GENEROUSLY .

 

The many Gopurams of Srirangam Temple

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There are no less than 22 gOpurams here built over the

centuries by the Kings , AzhwAr and AchAryAs . The tallest

of them is the 13-tiered Southern Gopuram (72 Meters high )

built in 1987 by the 44th AhObila Mutt Jeeyar of blessed memory .

He built that southern gOpuram eleven years ago and involved

movie stars ( ILayaRaajA ) , The two Andavans , Kanchi

KaamakOti peetam AchArya , Sri VaishNavaas and BhakthAs

of Sri RanganAthA from every corner of India . Sri RanganAthA

appeared in the dream of the AchAryA and commanded him to

complete the south gOpuram , which was a mottai gOpuram

until then . It was only at the foundation level without

any tier . The blessed name of this AhObila Matam Jeeyar

is SrivaNN SatakOpa Sri VedAntha Desika Yatheendhra

MahA Desikan .He involved every one in this Gopura

nirmANa Kaimkaryam irrespective of their darsanam

or AchArya Paramparai or status in society . The response

to his call was universal .They poured in 108 lakhs of

rupees to complete this kiamkaryam . Three thousand tons

of concrete , 52 tons of iron bar and 115 lakhs of bricks

were used to realize this tallest tower in the whole of

India to proclaim the glory of Sri RanganAthA . What was

left incomplete by Achyutha DevarAya of Vijayanagaram line

was completed by the 44th Jeeyar of AhObila Mutt .

 

The PrANa prathishtai for the Sri RanganAtha Vigraham

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The mahAn from MukkUr , the 44th Jeeyar of blessed memory

performed the life inculcation ( PrANa prathishtai ) to

the Sri RanganAtha and Sri MahA Lakshmi Vigrahams

that are going to take their homes in the new temple

at Pomona This Prathishtai was done by him ,

two years after completing the construction

of the Southern Gopuram for Sri RanganathA at Srirangam .

Such is the origin of the power of these ArchA mUrthys ,

which have been worshipped by the great soul and then

sent our way to North America .

 

Naathamuni , ALavanthAr and RaamAnujA"s time

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Sri RanganAtha Muni from KaatumannAr Koil

(Circa 824-924 A.D )had NammAzhwAr as his

spiritual Guru ; his sishyA was UyyakkondAr

( 826-931 A.D) the great dialectician ;

his sishyA was MaNakkAl Nambi ( 832-937 A.D )

and YaamunAchAryA alias ALavanthAr (916-1041 A.D)

became the disciple of ManakkAl Nambi .

All of these AchAryAs had their residences in and around

Srirangam and spent a significant portion of their

lives serving Sri RanganAthA and refining the ArAdhana

Kramams for the Lord .

 

Sri RamAnujA ( 1017-1137 A.D ) was born near Kaanchipuram

and was a great devotee of Sri VaradarAjan . After his sanyAsam ,

he settled down in Srirangam except for the times

he was away in KarnAtakA , ThiruveLLarai and Digh Vijayam

in North India .His devotion to Sri RanganAthA had no match .

 

He made many reforms in the temple administration . NazhI

kEttAn Vaasal ( where the clock run by the flow of water

was used to mark the time for the various rituals of

the temple ) , Dhanvanthri temple was created by

AchArya RaamAnuja . He converted the method of worship

from VykAnasa to PaancharAthra Aagamam .KurEsA(1010-1116 A.D ),

KurukEsA ( ThirukkurukaipirAn PiLLAn ) , the author of

the 6000-Padi , Thiruvarangatthu AmudanAr ( author of

RaamAnusa NooRanthAthi ) , NadAdUr ALvAn ( Sister's son

and pupil of RaamAnuja ) and the rest of

the 74 simhAsanaadhipathis appointed by

AchArya RaamAnujA lived at Srirangam

and enriched the devotional service to

Sri RanganAthA and Sri RanganAyaki immensely .

 

Paraasara Bhattar ( born 1074 A.D ) became the chief priest

of the temple after (during )RaamAnujA's time . His brother ,

VedavyAsa Bhattar took over the post of PurOhithar of

Sri RanganAthA and read Saathvika PurANAs in the temple .

Nanjeeyar ( born 1054 A.D ),the author of the 9000 -padi ,

NampiLLai , Vadakku Thiruveethi PiLLai , Periya VaacchAN piLLai ,

MeganAdha Soori , Azhaiya MaNavALa Jeeyar

( Pupil of Periya VaacchAn PiLLai ) , PiLLai

LOkAcchAr ( Srivachana BhUshaNam , Artha Panchakam

fame ) , Sudarsana Soori lived at Srirangam and

thrived from offering their service to the Divya-

Dampathis of Srirangam .

 

Swami Desikan's time ( 1268-1369 A.D )and Sri Rangam

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Swami Desikan spent a significant portion of his

life at Srirangam .His disciple and son , NayinAchArya

( 1316-1401A.D ) , the other well known disciple ,

Brahmatanntra Svatantra Parakaala Yathi I ( 1286-1386 A.D ),

ANNan ( PrathivAdhibhayankaram ) (1300-1410 A.D ) ,

the disciple of NayinAchAryA alternated between

Srirangam and Kaanchipuram .

 

ManavAla Maamuni ( 1370-1444 A.D ) was born an year after

Swami Desiakn ascended to paramapadham . He was an

ardent devotee of SriranganAthA and was honored with

a Taniyan by Sri RanganAtha for his pravachanam

on Bhagavadh Vishayam . He lived a lot of his life

in Srirangam .Wherever we look in Srirangam ,

we find the imprints of the holy feet of the above

AchAryAs and their paramparai on the sacred soil of

Srirangam , the home of Azhagiya MaNavALan .The great

Utthama Nambi and his generations have served the Lord

in an unbroken chain .That tradition will carry

over to Pomona , New York , when the divya dampathis

take up their residence in the temple built by

their BhakthA sikhAmaNis.

 

The Many Sannidhis at Srirangam

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The big sannidhis in the big temple are that of

Periya PerumAL and Sri RanganAyaki ThAyAr . There is

a VilvA tree inside the ThAyAr sannidhi .

 

The other sannidhis are : KooratthAzhwAr Sannidhi ,

the small sannidhi for Sri Lakshmi Nrusimhan near by ,

and Naathamuni AzhwAr sannadhi to the left . Next to

this sannidhi is the uLL AndAL sannidhi to differentiate

it from the VeLi AndAL Sannidhi near the KavEri bank .

The mUlavars at the uLL AndAL sannidhi are Rama , SitA

and LakshmaNA . Uthsavars are AndAL in a seated post

looking eastward , Her father , PeriyAzhwAr and

RaamAnujA ( GOdhAgrajar ) . ANDAL is in bridal dress .

 

Vaahana Mandapa VeNugopalan and RukmiNi , KaaLinga

nathana KrishNA , Amritha Kalasa Garudan have their

own sannidhis . Inside the Amritha Kalasa Garudan

sannidhi , we have the darsanam of Thirumanjana

ThirumEni Lakshmi Narasimhan .

 

To the right of the Ranga VilAsa Mantapam ,

we have the Veera HanumAn ( Moolavar with

the head of hanumAn and the body of BhimA )

and ThiruppANAzhwAr Sannidhi .Thondardipodi

AzhwAr and Vittal KrishNa sannidhi are nearby .

 

Near ChokkapAnai HanumAn Sannidhi , we find

the ChakkaratthAzhwAr Sannidhi .Moolavr has 16

arms and the uthsavar 8 arms . Lord NarasimhA

is behind the mUrtham of ChakkaratthAzhwAr .

The arch around the ChakkaratthAzhwAr bears

108 aksharams sacred to that mUrthy .Saturday

is a special day of worship of this sacred

Sudarsana-Narasimhan .

 

There is a Sannidhi for Sri RaamAnujA .During

the adhyayanam festival , his uthsava mUrthy is

taken in procession inside the temple . Nearby

are the sannidhis for ParthasArathy and one

for PiLLai LokAcchAr .

 

Garuda Mantapam housing the very tall mUlavar

of painted Garudan in sitting poisture is the place of

visit for Sri RanganAthA during Mohini alankAram

in Vaikunta EkAdasi day .

 

Separate saniidhis for PattAbhi Raaman ,

Mudhal AzhwArs, Theerthakarai VaasudEvar ,

Dhanvanthri are also present in the Srirangam

temple . Dhnavanthri sannidhi is near ThAyAr

sannidhi and lak ( arakku ) is seen in the hand

of Dhanvanthri symbolizing the use of Arakku in

medicinal treatment in the olden days .

 

Before we enter the ThAyAr sannidhi , we come across

the five pits and the three entrances . Desikar

Sannidhi is opposite the ThAyAr Sannidhi and

Mettu Azhagiya Singhar Sannidhi is opposite

Kambhan Mantapam , where the poet read his Kambha

RaamAyaNam and got the approval of the eight handed

Ugra Narasimhan. He is seated on top of twenty steps

and has gotten the name of Mettu Azhagiyasingar .

Nearby is the small and beautiful Chandra Pushkarini

and on its side is the KOdhanda Raaman Sannidhi .

Parama Padha Naathan sannadhi is nearby .Additional

sannidhis for NammAzhwAr , Thirumangai

and Mathurakavi are housed in one unit.

 

ArAdhanam and NaivEdhyam for Sri RanganAthA

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Periya perumAl wakes up in the early

morning to the sound of sacred VeeNA

music and Thondardipodi's paasurams .

At 8.30 AM , butter and milk are offered

to the Lord . It is followed by VeNN pongal ,

Dosai , Sukku , Vellam , Kariamudhu , Lime

pickle ,and Thirumal Vadai .

 

During the mid day pUjA , 18 padis of cooked rice ,

Saathamudhu , Kariamudhu , ThirukkaNNamudhu , Athirasam ,

are presented . During the evening ArAdhanam ,

KshirAnnam ,milk pongal ,Vadai , appam ,

thEnkuzhal , kariyamudhu , DadhiyOdhanam are

offered to the Lord .The night NaivEdhyam consists of

Vadisil ( plain rice ) , satti aravanai kariamudhu .

This is around 9 Pm . Between 9.15 and 9.30 pm ,

milk with camphor , saffron ,cardamom and

brown sugar ( naattu chakkarai ) are presented

and then the Lord rests for the night .

 

This Vaibhavam of the Lord , His Sannidhis , His

ArAdhanam , His NaivEdhyam are going to be celebrated

here at PomonA Temple . May I conclude this posting

on the last day of the Isvara Year and request you

all to come forward and support the temple construction

Kaimkaryam for the Lord and His Divine consort

and the AzhwArs and the AchAryAs and receive the blessings

of the Divya dampathis of Srirangam .

 

Daasan , Oppiliappan Koil VaradAchAri SadagOpan