History

The Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple or Thiruvarangam is a Hindu temple dedicated to Ranganatha, a reclining form of the Hindu deity Vishnu, located in Srirangam, Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu, India.Constructed in the Dravidian Architecture, this temple is glorified by Alvars in their Divya Prabhanda and is one among the 108 Divya Desams dedicated to Vishnu.

It is one of the most illustrious Vaishnava temples in South India rich in legend and history. The temple has played an important role in Vaishnavism history starting with the 11th-century career of Ramanuja and his predecessors Nathamuni and Yamunacharya in Srirangam. Its location, on an island between the Kollidam and Cauvery rivers, has rendered it vulnerable to flooding as well as the rampaging of invading armies which repeatedly commandeered the site for military encampment. The temple was looted and destroyed by the Delhi Sultanate armies in a broad plunder raid on various cities of the Pandyan kingdom in early 14th century. The temple was rebuilt in late 14th century, the site fortified and expanded with many more gopurams in the 16th and 17th centuries. It was one of the hubs of early Bhakti movement with a devotional singing and dance tradition, but this tradition stopped during the 14th century and was revived in a limited way much later.

The temple occupies an area of 155 acres (63 ha) with 50 shrines, 21 towers, 39 pavilions and many water tanks integrated into the complex making it the world’s largest functioning Hindu temple. The temple town is a significant archaeological and epigraphical site, providing a historic window into the early and mid medieval South Indian society and culture. Numerous inscriptions suggest that this Hindu temple served not only as a spiritual center, but also a major economic and charitable institution that operated education and hospital facilities, ran a free kitchen, and financed regional infrastructure projects from the gifts and donations it received.

The Srirangam temple is the largest temple compound in India and one of the largest religious complexes in the world. Some of these structures have been renovated, expanded and rebuilt over the centuries as a living temple. The latest addition is the outer tower that is 67 metres (220 ft) tall, completed in 1987. Srirangam temple is often listed as one of the largest functioning Hindu temple in the world, the still larger Angkor Wat being the largest existing temple. The temple is an active Hindu house of worship and follows Thenkalai tradition of Sri Vaishnavism. The annual 21-day festival conducted during the Tamil month of Margazhi (December–January) attracts 1 million visitors. The temple complex has been nominated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and is in UNESCO’s tentative list.
A temple at Srirangam is mentioned in Tamil literature of the Sangam era (1st to the 4th century AD), including the epic Silapadikaram (book 11, lines 35–40)
Beyond the ancient textual history, archaeological evidence such as inscriptions refer to this temple, but these stone inscriptions are from late 1st millennium AD. The inscriptions in the temple belong to the Chola, Pandya, Hoysala and Vijayanagar dynasties who ruled over the region. These inscriptions range in date between the 9th and 16th centuries.

During the period of invasion and plunder by the Ala ud Din Khilji’s Muslim general Malik Kafur and his Delhi Sultanate forces in 1311, the Arabic texts of the period state that he raided a “golden temple” on river “Kanobari” (Kaveri), destroyed the temple and took the plunder with the golden idol of the deity to Delhi. According to Steven P. Hopkins, this is believed to be the Ranganathaswamy Temple.

The Tamil texts that followed offer various inconsistent legends on how the temple regained the Vishnu idol. According to one found in Koil Oluku, a young girl had vowed to fast till she had seen the idol. She followed the Muslim army as it returned with the loot back to Delhi. There she sneaked into the palace and saw that the Sultan’s daughter had fallen in love with the image. The young girl returned to Srirangam and told the priests about what she had seen in Delhi. The priests went with musicians to Delhi, found the idol in capriciously playful possession of the Sultan’s daughter, day and night. They sang and danced before the Sultan to return the idol, and he gave it back which upset his daughter. To console the daughter, the Sultan sent in his army again to bring it back, but this time they were not successful. According to other versions, the Muslim daughter followed the idol from Delhi to Srirangam on a horse, symbolizing that love brought back the icon after war had taken it away.