The Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple in Srirangam, Tamil Nadu India is a Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Ranganatha, a reclining form of Lord Vishnu. It is the first and foremost among the 108 Divya Desams, the holy abodes of Lord Vishnu.

     The temple occupies an area of 156 acres (6,31,000 square meter) with a perimeter of 1,116m (10,710 feet) making it the largest temple in India. Srirangam temple can be easily termed as the biggest functioning Hindu temple in the world (it's termed as biggest "functioning" because Angkor Wat is the biggest but non-functioning Hindu temple in the world).

     The temple is enclosed by 7 concentric walls and the total length of these seven walls is 32,592 feet or over six miles. There are total of 21 gopurams in this temple. The weight of the Gopuram is 24,880 tons and the entrance is 11 3/4 width and height is 24 3/4. The 7 walls are referred to as the 7 worlds. The 7th wall is the outer wall which can be seen and it is 3072 feet in length and 2521 feet in breadth. For 7 prakaarams, 7 thiruveedhi (streets) are found. 7th thiruveedhi is called "Chitthirai Thiruveedhi" where bigh houses and bunglows are found. Sixth Veedhi, which is found in Sixth prakaaram is called "Thiru vikraman thiruveedhi" fifth veedhi om 5th prakaram is Agalangan Thiru veedhi". Fourth veedhi in 4th prakaram is "Aalinaadan Thiruveedhi". Third veedhi in 3rd prakaram is "Kulasekaran Thiruveedhi". Second veedhi in 2nd prakaram is "Raja Mahendran". And in the first prakaram, Emperumaan Sri Ranganathan in Kidantha Kolam gives seva and this is called "Dharma Varman Thiru chuttru (circle). Among the marvels of the temple is a "hall of 1000 pillars" (actually 953).

     The Gopuram of Sri Rangam is popularly called as "Raja Gopuram" and it is the biggest gopuram in the Asian Sub - Continent. The height of the Gopuram is 236 feet high with 13 Nilays. 12 Kalasams are kept on the top of the Gopuram. It took almost 7 years to complete the Gopuram. The Rajagopuram did not reach its current height of 73 m. until 1987, when the 44th Jeer of Ahobila Mutt initiated the process with the help of philanthropists and others.

     There are in total eight Svayam Vyakta Ksetras ("self-manifested shrines"), of Lord Vishnu, according to Sri Vaisnava philosophy namely, Srirangam, Srimushnam, Venkatadri, Saligramam, Naimisaranyam, Totadri, Pushakara and Badrinath. Of these, Srirangam is the first and of foremost importance. The temple is situated in an island - enclosed by Kaveri river and Kollidam river.

Mythology:
     Sriranga Mahathmiyam is the compilation of the mythological and religious account of the temple. According to it, Lord Brahma, the Lord of Creation in Hindu Mythology was once in a state of deep meditation and in His supreme trance got the gift of the Lord Vishnu's idol, "Ranga Vimana" and was told by the Supreme Lord that there would seven other appearance of such idols on earth - Srirangam, Srimushnam, Venkatadri, Saligram, Naimisaranya, Totadri, Pushkara and Badri. The idol was then passed over by Brahma to Viraja, Vaiswatha, Manu, Ishwaku and then finally descended to Rama. Lord Rama, himself an avatar of Vishnu worshipped the idol for a long time, and when he returned victoriously from Sri Lanka destroying Ravana, he gifted it to King Vibhishana as a token of appreciation for his support for Rama against his own brother, Ravana. When Vibhishana was going via Trichy enroute to Sri Lanka, he was tricked by Lord Vinayaka. Though Vibhishana supported Rama, he was basically an Asura, and hence the Devas wanted to stop this idea of an Asura taking Lord's supreme form to his Kingdom. They requested the help of the God of Happiness, Lord Vinayaka and the Lord accepted the plan. Vibhishana, while on the way back to his Kingdom, passed through Trichy, and wanted to take his bath in the river Kaveri and do his daily rituals. However, he was perplexed as the idol once placed in land, could never be removed and had to be in that place forever. As a solution, Vibhishana tried to find someone to hold the idol while he was taking bath and found under the disguise of a cowherd boy. As per the plan, when Vibhishana was fully into water, kept the idol firmly on the sand in the banks of Kaveri. On seeing this, the angry Vibhishana chased the boy to punish him, but the boy kept running and climbed over the rock near the Kaveri bank. Finally caught the boy and hit him on the fore-head, who then revealed himself to be Lord Vinayaka. Vibhishana immediately apologized and the Lord gave him his blessings after which Vibhishana continued on his way to Lanka.


     The place on which the Ranganathan idol was kept was later covered in deep forests due to disuse. It is discovered when a Chola king chasing a parrot finds the idol accidentally. He then establishes the Ranganathaswamy temple as one of the largest temple complexes in the world. The rock to which Vinayaka for escaping, now forms the famous temple of Uchi Pillayar Kovil.

     Most dynasties that ruled the South (Dravidian land)- Cholas, Pandiyas, Hoysalas, Nayakkas - assisted renovation and assisted in the observance of the traditional customs. The temple finds mention in Tamil works of literature of the Sangam Era, including Silapadikaram, though archaeological inscriptions are available only from the 10th century AD.

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