Majestic view of 1000 year old Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple or Thiruvarangam located in Srirangam, Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu, South India.
Sri Ranganathaswamy Devasthanam
"We honor our Gods for building them crowns called Temples"
On the eastern entrance of the Srirangam temple, there stands a white tower, popularly known as the Vellayi Gopuram. It is generally believed that the tower is so called since it has been painted white by the temple authorities. But the tower has actually been named after a Devadasi called Vellayi who had sacrificed her life to protect the idol of Namperumal from the Sultanate forces who had invaded the temple.
Srirangam was attacked by the Sultanate forces in the year 1323 during the Tamil month of Vaikasi. Nearly, 12,000 residents of Srirangam island had laid down their lives fighting to protect the temple. The forces attacked the temple and Lord Ranganatha's jewels and the temple gold were taken away.
Hailing Vellayi's sacrifice, the chief of Vijayanagara forces, Kempanna, who drove away the Sultanate forces, named the tower after her. The gopuram continues to be painted white in her memory.This Devasthanam was plundered and thousands of Sri Vaisnava bhaktas were killed during attack on it by Islamic rulers.
Did you know: Sri Ranganathasvamy Temple is the second-largest Hindu temple by area (631,000 m²) in the world. At present Srirangam is the world's largest Function temple.
Main deities :
Sri Ranganathaswamy ( Vishnu)
Sri Ranganayaki Amma ( Lakshmi)
Sri Ranganathaswamy temple is constructed in Dravidian Style Architecture
Beautiful photographs of Sri Appala Ranganathaswamy Temple of Tamil Nadu with equally good write-up describing this temple. I think one should read this also for detail of this temple as I did just before.
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