01 March 2012

Temples in and around Trichy - Srirangam Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple

The Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple or Tiruvarangam is a Hindu Temple dedicated to Ranganatha, a reclining form of Hindu deity, Vishnu located in Srirangam, Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu, India . Constructed in the Dravidian style of architecture, this temple is glorified in the Divya Prabandham,  the early medieval Tamil literature canon of the Alvar saints from the 6th–9th centuries CE and is counted as the first and foremost among the 108 Divya Desams dedicated to Vishnu.


 Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple,
Srirangam-Trichy
It is one of the most illustrious Vaishnava temples in South India rich in legend and history. Its location, on an island in Cauvery river, has rendered it vulnerable to natural disasters as well as the rampaging of invading armies - Hindu, Muslim and European – which repeatedly commandeered the site for military encampment.  The main entrance, known as the Rajagopuram [the royal temple tower], rises from the base area of around 13 cents [around 5720 sq ft] and goes up to 237 feet [72 m], moving up in eleven progressively smaller tiers. 


The annual 21 day festival conducted during the Tamil month of Margazhi [December–January] attracts 1 million visitors. Srirangam temple is often listed as the largest functioning Hindu Temple in the world, the still larger Angkor Wat being the largest existing temple. The temple occupies an area of 156 acres [631,000 m] with a perimeter of 4,116m [10,710 feet] making it the largest temple in India and one of the largest religious complexes in the world.

For more on SriRangam Temple, you may see my earlier posting:

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