01Srirangam on the Yamuna
The temple was raised in the 1840s by the wealthy Seth family of Mathura, disciples of the Sri Vaishnava acharya Swami Rangacharya, and opened in 1851. Rangacharya wanted Ranganatha of Srirangam worshipped in Krishna’s own land, and the temple was laid out on the southern plan: high walls, a tall gopuram on the east, a gold-plated dhvaja stambha, and Ranganatha in the sanctum as Krishna the bridegroom with Goda, the Alvar saint Andal, who in her Tiruppavai longed to be a gopi of Vrindavan. The priests follow the Pancharatra agama and recite the Tamil Divya Prabandham.
02The chariot festival
Every Chaitra the temple holds its Brahmotsava, ten days of processions in which Ranganatha rides out on a different vahana each day. The high point is the rath, a huge wooden chariot hauled by devotees through the streets to the Ranga garden. Inside the walls there is also a museum of the temple’s processional vehicles and a pushkarini tank. The Seth family’s trust still manages the temple.
The life of this place
- 1845Construction begins.
- 1851The temple is consecrated.
The temple is near Brahma Kund on the eastern side of Vrindavan; non-Hindus may be stopped at the inner gates.
