Thiru Arangan Ula -2 The specialty of Sri
Rangam
We saw that the Lord descended from VaikunthA to Sri Rangam to be with us.
Now, what was his route?? In Satya LOkA, Lord RanganAthA was worshipped along
with the processional deity (namperumAL), his consort (RanganAyaki) and all
associated deities by Lord Brahma. Even the Golden VimAnA (sanctum) that we see
today in Sri Rangam was first present in Sathya LokA, before descending along
with Lord RanganAthA who settled in Sri Rangam. After Lord Brahma, Surya (the
Sun God) was worshipping the Lord for several millions of years. IkshavAku was
the first descendent of the Sun God from our planet, who was greatly devoted to
Lord RanganAthA. Because of his divine powers, he was able to ascend to Sathya
Loka every day just to perform prayers to the Lord and his family of deities.
But still, IkshvAku found it difficult to visit the heavenly planets every day.
Vyvasvatha Manu, the son of the Sun God then brought Lord Ranganatha down to
our planet in order for IkshvAkU to continue worshipping
the Lord without the hurdles of distance. Lord RanganAtha was first brought to
AyOdhyA, where generations of IkshvAkU?s descendants would worship Him
devotedly. In fact, the city of AyodhyA was built by Vyvasvatha Manu just
because Lord RanganAthA was going to reside there. Lord RanganAthA became the
affectionate deity of IkshvAkU?s descendants, namely King Dasaratha and his son
Lord RAmA.
Lord RAmA then gifted the deity of Lord RanganAthA to his dear devotee
vibheeshanA, the brother of rAvanA. En route to Lanka, VibheeshanA wanted to
have a bath at the Chandra Pushkarani theertham in Sri Rangam, hence he placed
Ranganatha on the ground. What appeared to be a temporary halt, Lord Ranganatha
decided to settle in Sri Rangam. Vibheeshana tried to lift the deity of
RanganAthA up, he couldn?t. Having learnt the fact that RanganAthA has settled
in Sri Rangam, King Dharma Varma, the local ruler, rushed to that place and
conducted the first BrahmOtsavam (religious ceremony of a grand scale) for Sri
RangAthA. Again, the question arises, why did Swami RanganAthA decide to stay
at Sri Rangam instead of Lanka as VibheeshanA desired? Of course, there are
beautiful gardens, river bodies even in the northern parts of India, but why
would the Lord choose to stay in Sri Rangam??
The answer: Sri SadagopA, nammAzhwAr. Sri RanganAthA knew that Sri nammAzhwAr
was going to appear in the future, and he wanted to be the object of all of
nammAzhwAr?s pasurams (as confirmed by Sri ParAsara Bhattar in his salutary
verses on nammAzhwAr?s tiruvAimozhi).
The glories of such Sri Rangam are endless. King Shantanu penanced at Sri
Rangam as a result of which he was blessed with Bhishma the great as his son.
Arjuna prayed at Sri Rangam, built the ?Arjuna Mandapa? as a dedication to the
Lord, and he married Subhadra because of the Lord?s blessings. Lord RanganAthA
also has another beautiful name, ?Azhagiya ManavALan? (the beautiful
bridegroom) ? he was christened so by the great PeriyAzhwAr, father of AndAL.
This Lord was special to all the AzhwArs and AchAryAs. He used to adorn the
garland made by Thondaradippodi AzhwAr. He accepted AndAL as His consort. He
was the father of the great ParAsara Bhattar. Great AchAryAs like YAmunAchAriar
and Swami RAmAnujar walked on this holy land. The dust in Sri Rangam is very
holy for the same reason, any visitor to Sri Rangam should not just visit the
temple and come back, but roll on the dusts of Sri Rangam instead, for the land
is extremely holy.
Lord RanganAthA?s pastimes in Sri Rangam are numerous. He used to visit his
devotees? homes; he used to talk with devotees on the streets just like friends
would. Of course, he depicted supreme pastimes with the AzhwArs and AchAryAs.
Let us look at one such pastime of the Lord.
Jeeyar Puram is a town that is situated near Sri Rangam. In that town was
living an old lady with her dear grandson named Rangan, both being devotees of
the Lord. Once Rangan wanted to go to the banks of the river KAveri and have
his head tonsured. When he had just arrived at the banks of Kaveri, it started
to rain heavily and KAveri started to flood, and he was pulled into the river.
Luckily, the strong current hurled the young lad on to the other side of the
river, where the temple was located. The rain was not to halt, and so our
Rangan was forced to stay in the temple till the rain abated, he used to eat
the MahA prasadam of the Lord to satiate his hunger. On the other side of the
river, the old lady started to get anxious. She started to shout his name with
tears in her eyes, ?Ranga!! Ranga!!? and searched for him everywhere, but he
was not to be seen. As she was about to give up, Rangan returns, ?Patti, I am
so hungry, please feed me something?, pleasantly surprised, the old
lady enquires, ?Ranga, I was really worried you my dear boy, where were you
all these days, what did you eat?, replies Rangan, who has this radiant
thirumaN on his forehead and his head being smoothly tonsured, ?Oh Patti, I was
at Sri Rangam, I was offered food regularly and was well taken care of, anyway
I am very hungry right now, do you have something to eat?? the relieved lady
replies, ?unfortunately I don?t have anything but some preparation in spinach?,
?Oh, that would be enough, please give me that spinach?, ?Hmmm, yummy, I want
more? and so enjoys our Rangan, much to the joy of his grand mother. ?Ok Patti,
I have to go out and play now?, as soon as the young Rangan leaves, another
Rangan comes, and so asks the astonished lady, ?Rangan, what happened to you??
I just saw you now looking fresh with a clean, shaven head, but now you
appeared tired and your head appears unshaven, what happened?? ?What?? I just
came from the temple, who came now??? bemused our Rangan. Who could
the other Rangan be??
Hearing about this incident, Swami rAmAnujA arranged for a festival that is
being continued till date. Even to this day, Lord RangAnAtha is offered SpinAch
preparations in remembrance of this glorious pastime in the past, and
descendants of the barber who tonsured Lord Ranganatha?s head are still
honored.
Such a place was Sri Rangam where everything was wonderful. The Lord also has
another name, ?Periya PerumAL?, which means ?The Big Lord?. ?Periya Piratti?,
?Periya Kovil?, ?Periya ThirumaNi?, ?Periya NambigaL?, ?Periya AzhwAr?, ?Periya
AchAn PiLLai?, ?Periya Jeeyar?, everything is ?big? in Sri Rangam. If such a
Lord was to become the possession of just a single person, who would that
special person be?? That would be Saint rAmAnujA. The Lord always listens to
rAmAnuja.?Stand up?, done. ?lie down?, okay. ?Give him Moksham?, sure. Such
was the greatness of saint rAmAnujA!!! The place is BhoolOka Vaikuntha without
doubt. If somebody is curious to know about VaikunthA, he/she should visit Sri
Rangam.
The temple has also been a center of many cultural events; many VaishnAvA works
were created in front of the Lord at Sri Rangam. TiruvAimozhi was first sung at
Sri Rangam by Madhurakavi AzhwAr. Poet Kambar?s rAmAyanAm was first presented
here- Sri NAthAmuni encouraged Kambar to present his rAmAyanam in Sri Rangam.
NamperumAL, the processional deity, asked Kambar to sing on Swami nammAzhwAr
first, and Kambar obliged and wrote ?satagOpar andhAdhi? glorifying nammAzhwAr.
Saint YAmunAchAryA presented the first ever Vaishnava Stotra (that is not from
Shruti/Smrti) named StOtra RatnA in front of the Lord. His ChatusslOki was
written in front of the Lord?s consort. At the ripe old age of 100+, Swami
rAmAnujA performed complete surrender and made the Lord guarantee mOkshA to his
followers while reciting the gadya-trayam in front of the Lord. Swami Bhattar?s
works, Swami KUrEsA?s Sri Stuti, SwAmi VEdAntA DEsikan?s pAdhukA sahasram,
MunivAhana bOham, were all written in front of the Lord. All
of the brilliant commentaries on nammAzhwAr?s tiruvAimozhi were written in Sri
Rangam. AchAryA Hrdayam was written here. Also, many of the AchAryAs were given
glorious titles in by the Lord of Sri Rangam, Sri VEdAntAchAryA was given the
title ?Sarvatantra svatantra? in Sri Rangam, Sri ManavALa MAmunikaL was given
the title, ?Eettu Perukkar? in Sri Rangam; as written in the beginning, the
glories of Sri Rangam are endless. Such was the setting in Srirangam- happy
times preceded the period of turmoil.
In the next posting let us look at the glories of the AchAryAs of Sri Rangam.
Adiyen.
Kidambi Soundararajan.
AzhwAr emperumAnAr jeeyar tiruvadigaLE Saranam.
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