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Oppiliappan List Archive: Message 00125 Oct 2005

 
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                                  Thiru Arangan Ula -2 The specialty of  Sri 
Rangam

 

 We saw that the Lord descended from VaikunthA to Sri Rangam to be with us. 
Now, what was his route?? In Satya LOkA, Lord RanganAthA was worshipped along 
with the processional deity (namperumAL), his consort (RanganAyaki) and all 
associated deities by Lord Brahma. Even the Golden VimAnA (sanctum) that we see 
today in Sri Rangam was first present in Sathya LokA, before descending along 
with Lord RanganAthA who settled in Sri Rangam. After Lord Brahma, Surya (the 
Sun God) was worshipping the Lord for several millions of years. IkshavAku was 
the first descendent of the Sun God from our planet, who was greatly devoted to 
Lord RanganAthA. Because of his divine powers, he was able to ascend to Sathya 
Loka every day just to perform prayers to the Lord and his family of deities. 
But still, IkshvAku found it difficult to visit the heavenly planets every day. 
Vyvasvatha Manu, the son of the Sun God then brought Lord Ranganatha down to 
our planet in order for IkshvAkU to continue worshipping
 the Lord without the hurdles of distance. Lord RanganAtha was first brought to 
AyOdhyA, where generations of IkshvAkU?s descendants would worship Him 
devotedly. In fact, the city of AyodhyA was built by Vyvasvatha Manu just 
because Lord RanganAthA was going to reside there. Lord RanganAthA became the 
affectionate deity of IkshvAkU?s descendants, namely King Dasaratha and his son 
Lord RAmA. 

 

Lord RAmA then gifted the deity of Lord RanganAthA to his dear devotee 
vibheeshanA, the brother of rAvanA. En route to Lanka, VibheeshanA wanted to 
have a bath at the Chandra Pushkarani theertham in Sri Rangam, hence he placed 
Ranganatha on the ground. What appeared to be a temporary halt, Lord Ranganatha 
decided to settle in Sri Rangam. Vibheeshana tried to lift the deity of 
RanganAthA up, he couldn?t. Having learnt the fact that RanganAthA has settled 
in Sri Rangam, King Dharma Varma, the local ruler, rushed to that place and 
conducted the first BrahmOtsavam (religious ceremony of a grand scale) for Sri 
RangAthA. Again, the question arises, why did Swami RanganAthA decide to stay 
at Sri Rangam instead of Lanka as VibheeshanA desired? Of course, there are 
beautiful gardens, river bodies even in the northern parts of India, but why 
would the Lord choose to stay in Sri Rangam??

 

The answer: Sri SadagopA, nammAzhwAr. Sri RanganAthA knew that Sri nammAzhwAr 
was going to appear in the future, and he wanted to be the object of all of 
nammAzhwAr?s pasurams (as confirmed by Sri ParAsara Bhattar in his salutary 
verses on nammAzhwAr?s tiruvAimozhi). 

 

The glories of such Sri Rangam are endless. King Shantanu penanced at Sri 
Rangam as a result of which he was blessed with Bhishma the great as his son. 
Arjuna prayed at Sri Rangam, built the ?Arjuna Mandapa? as a dedication to the 
Lord, and he married Subhadra because of the Lord?s blessings. Lord RanganAthA 
also has another beautiful name, ?Azhagiya ManavALan? (the beautiful 
bridegroom) ? he was christened so by the great PeriyAzhwAr, father of AndAL. 
This Lord was special to all the AzhwArs and AchAryAs. He used to adorn the 
garland made by Thondaradippodi AzhwAr. He accepted AndAL as His consort. He 
was the father of the great ParAsara Bhattar. Great AchAryAs like YAmunAchAriar 
and Swami RAmAnujar walked on this holy land. The dust in Sri Rangam is very 
holy for the same reason, any visitor to Sri Rangam should not just visit the 
temple and come back, but roll on the dusts of Sri Rangam instead, for the land 
is extremely holy. 

 

Lord RanganAthA?s pastimes in Sri Rangam are numerous. He used to visit his 
devotees? homes; he used to talk with devotees on the streets just like friends 
would. Of course, he depicted supreme pastimes with the AzhwArs and AchAryAs. 
Let us look at one such pastime of the Lord.

 

Jeeyar Puram is a town that is situated near Sri Rangam. In that town was 
living an old lady with her dear grandson named Rangan, both being devotees of 
the Lord. Once Rangan wanted to go to the banks of the river KAveri and have 
his head tonsured. When he had just arrived at the banks of Kaveri, it started 
to rain heavily and KAveri started to flood, and he was pulled into the river. 
Luckily, the strong current hurled the young lad on to the other side of the 
river, where the temple was located. The rain was not to halt, and so our 
Rangan was forced to stay in the temple till the rain abated, he used to eat 
the MahA prasadam of the Lord to satiate his hunger. On the other side of the 
river, the old lady started to get anxious. She started to shout his name with 
tears in her eyes, ?Ranga!! Ranga!!? and searched for him everywhere, but he 
was not to be seen. As she was about to give up, Rangan returns, ?Patti, I am 
so hungry, please feed me something?, pleasantly surprised, the old
 lady enquires, ?Ranga, I was really worried you my dear boy, where were you 
all these days, what did you eat?, replies Rangan, who has this radiant 
thirumaN on his forehead and his head being smoothly tonsured, ?Oh Patti, I was 
at Sri Rangam, I was offered food regularly and was well taken care of, anyway 
I am very hungry right now, do you have something to eat?? the relieved lady 
replies, ?unfortunately I don?t have anything but some preparation in spinach?, 
?Oh, that would be enough, please give me that spinach?, ?Hmmm, yummy, I want 
more? and so enjoys our Rangan, much to the joy of his grand mother. ?Ok Patti, 
I have to go out and play now?, as soon as the young Rangan leaves, another 
Rangan comes, and so asks the astonished lady, ?Rangan, what happened to you?? 
I just saw you now looking fresh with a clean, shaven head, but now you 
appeared tired and your head appears unshaven, what happened?? ?What?? I just 
came from the temple, who came now??? bemused our Rangan. Who could
 the other Rangan be??

 

Hearing about this incident, Swami rAmAnujA arranged for a festival that is 
being continued till date. Even to this day, Lord RangAnAtha is offered SpinAch 
preparations in remembrance of this glorious pastime in the past, and 
descendants of the barber who tonsured Lord Ranganatha?s head are still 
honored. 

 

Such a place was Sri Rangam where everything was wonderful. The Lord also has 
another name, ?Periya PerumAL?, which means ?The Big Lord?. ?Periya Piratti?, 
?Periya Kovil?, ?Periya ThirumaNi?, ?Periya NambigaL?, ?Periya AzhwAr?, ?Periya 
AchAn PiLLai?, ?Periya Jeeyar?, everything is ?big? in Sri Rangam. If such a 
Lord was to become the possession of just a single person, who would that 
special person be?? That would be Saint rAmAnujA. The Lord always listens to 
rAmAnuja.?Stand up?, done. ?lie down?, okay.  ?Give him Moksham?, sure. Such 
was the greatness of saint rAmAnujA!!! The place is BhoolOka Vaikuntha without 
doubt. If somebody is curious to know about VaikunthA, he/she should visit Sri 
Rangam.

 

The temple has also been a center of many cultural events; many VaishnAvA works 
were created in front of the Lord at Sri Rangam. TiruvAimozhi was first sung at 
Sri Rangam by Madhurakavi AzhwAr. Poet Kambar?s rAmAyanAm was first presented 
here- Sri NAthAmuni encouraged Kambar to present his rAmAyanam in Sri Rangam. 
NamperumAL, the processional deity, asked Kambar to sing on Swami nammAzhwAr 
first, and Kambar obliged and wrote ?satagOpar andhAdhi? glorifying nammAzhwAr. 
Saint YAmunAchAryA presented the first ever Vaishnava Stotra (that is not from 
Shruti/Smrti) named StOtra RatnA in front of the Lord. His ChatusslOki was 
written in front of the Lord?s consort. At the ripe old age of 100+, Swami 
rAmAnujA performed complete surrender and made the Lord guarantee mOkshA to his 
followers while reciting the gadya-trayam in front of the Lord. Swami Bhattar?s 
works, Swami KUrEsA?s Sri Stuti, SwAmi VEdAntA DEsikan?s pAdhukA sahasram, 
MunivAhana bOham, were all written in front of the Lord. All
 of the brilliant commentaries on nammAzhwAr?s tiruvAimozhi were written in Sri 
Rangam. AchAryA Hrdayam was written here. Also, many of the AchAryAs were given 
glorious titles in by the Lord of Sri Rangam, Sri VEdAntAchAryA was given the 
title ?Sarvatantra svatantra? in Sri Rangam, Sri ManavALa MAmunikaL was given 
the title, ?Eettu Perukkar? in Sri Rangam; as written in the beginning, the 
glories of Sri Rangam are endless. Such was the setting in Srirangam- happy 
times preceded the period of turmoil.

 

In the next posting let us look at the glories of the AchAryAs of Sri Rangam. 

 

Adiyen.

 

Kidambi Soundararajan.

AzhwAr emperumAnAr jeeyar tiruvadigaLE Saranam.


                
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