Srirangam Temple

Srirangam Temple Flowery Structure

This is the most ornatestructure of the entiretemple complex. It hasa garbhagriha, pradaksina,mukhamandapa and mahamandapa.The last, whichis at a lower level than the mukhamandapa,is open and has sixrows of eight pillarseach and measures 34' by 60'. Each pillar(20' in height) has a rectangularblock as base, apolygonal shaft and Vijayanagarcorbels. Thebases contain interestingsculptures. Towards thewestern end of this mandaparises the facade ofthe shrine on either sideof the entrance, showingadhistana and kudya elaboratelycarved.The Venugopala shrinehas in its sanctum, a fourarmedimage of Krishna,about 4'in height, in dvibhangapose, the right legcrossing the left below theknee and resting on itstoes, and wearing jewelsof many sorts adorninghis neck, chest, hip and ankles.His upper hands holdSankha and Chakra, whilethe lower ones play theflute. Figures of Venugopalacarved in stone appearin the niches in theadhistana portion andstucco images appear onthe vimana.

Sthala Vruksha
The Vilvam in the Thaayaar sannidhi is the place where the holy soil is taken for the Anguraarppanamritual during festivals. It is also the place where the Moola vigraha of Goddess Sri Ranganayaki was buried for safety reasons during the Mohantmedan invasion. Later on, during floods, this vigraha came out of the soil, and since then this vigraha is kept behind the Moola vigraha of Sri Ranganayaki Thaayaar. This is the reason for the presence of two moola vigrahas in Srirangam.

The Sanctum Sanctorum of Lord Ranganatha

The sanctum image (the mula or dhruvabera of Ranganatha) is of mortar and is about 15' in length. The much bigger Anantasayi or Anantasayamam (Trivandrum) is also of mortar. The couch of Ranganatha is abour 3' in height and the hoods, which are five in number, rise to about 6'. It is the privilege of Vishnu images alone to be represented in sayana forms in addition to the stanaka (standing) and asana (seated) forms. Each one of these three forms has four varieties, viz., yoga, bhoga, vira, and abhicarika. In the yoga variety, the God appears alone in a yogic aspect and is worshipped by yogis. The Srirangam image is yogasayanamurti.

In srirangam Ranganatha lies facing south the head resting in the west direction and the legs extended towards the east.

Though the garbhagriha is circular, the vimana is oval-shaped, or ellipsoidal, slightly elongated west to east.