01Vibhishana’s gift
The Sri Vaishnava account says the image of Ranganatha was worshipped by the kings of Ikshvaku’s line in Ayodhya. Shri Rama gave it to Vibhishana after the coronation. Carrying it towards Lanka, Vibhishana set it down here to perform his evening rites, and it would not move again. Ranganatha agreed to stay, but lies facing south, towards Lanka. All twelve Alvars except one sang of Srirangam; it is called simply ‘Koil’, the temple.
021323: the long exile
In 1323 the army of Ulugh Khan, later Sultan Muhammad bin Tughluq, came to Srirangam. The temple chronicle, the Koil Olugu, records that thousands of Sri Vaishnavas died defending it, and that the acharya Pillai Lokacharya fled south with the utsava image, Namperumal, and died on the way. Vedanta Desika hid in the dead to save the manuscripts of the Sri Bhashya commentary. Namperumal travelled for some 48 years through Kerala, Karnataka and Tirumala before Vijayanagara’s commander Gopana brought him home in 1371; a Sanskrit inscription by Gopana on the east wall records the return.
03Ramanuja’s home
Ramanujacharya spent most of his life here, reorganised the temple’s worship and wrote the Sri Bhashya. His body is kept seated in the Udayavar shrine inside the complex. The temple covers about 156 acres; whole streets of houses lie within its walls. The southern rajagopuram stood unfinished for centuries until the 44th jeeyar of the Ahobila Matha completed it in 1987, about 73 m high. Vaikuntha Ekadashi, when the northern ‘Paramapada Vasal’ opens, draws lakhs.
The life of this place
- 12th centuryRamanujacharya lives and teaches at Srirangam and orders its worship.
- 1323Ulugh Khan’s army sacks the temple; Namperumal is carried away to safety.
- 1371Gopana of Vijayanagara reinstalls Namperumal.
- 1987The southern rajagopuram is completed.
Allow half a day. Vaikuntha Ekadashi (December–January) is the great festival; book early.
