Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple

According to tradition, after defeating Ravana, Lord Rama gave a sacred image of Vishnu to his brother Vibhishana. On the banks of the Cauvery the image could no longer be moved, and so Vishnu came to reside at Srirangam as Ranganathaswamy. This is a matter of faith, not historical record.

The historical record is clearer from the temple's own fabric. The district administration notes that the shrine was transformed over many centuries under the Cholas, Cheras, Pandyas, Hoysalas, the Vijayanagara kings and the Nayaks of Madurai. Incredible India notes that the temple carries inscriptions from the Chola dynasty along with links to the Pandya, Hoysala and Vijayanagara empires.

In recent years the temple underwent a large conservation programme. As reported by The News Minute, work that began in June 2014 cost about Rs 25 crore. It used traditional methods, restored the hundred-pillar and thousand-pillar mandapams and sculptures in sub-shrines, removed about 60,000 tonnes of debris, and rebuilt old drainage and rainwater-harvesting systems to protect the riverside temple from flooding. In 2017 the project won a UNESCO Asia-Pacific Award of Merit for cultural heritage conservation, the first such award for a temple in Tamil Nadu.

Architecture and sacred features

The temple is laid out in seven concentric enclosures (prakarams) whose granite walls a visitor passes through on the way to the sanctum. Its 21 gopurams are led by the rajagopuram, which Incredible India gives as 72 metres tall (The News Minute reports 236 feet).

Notable halls include the thousand-pillared mandapam, where each pillar is individually carved, as well as the Garuda Mandapam and the Sesha Mandapam.