Dear Sri Ranganatha PrEmis : Historical Srirangam ( Continued ) *********************************** 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 ************************** 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 ************************************** 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 ******************************************************* 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 ********************************************* 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 **************************************************** 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 ******************************** 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 ******************************************** 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
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