Story of Srirangam Golden Vimana at Ranganathswamy Temple

While in Srirangam I lost track of the number of gopurams I crossed.

Sriranganathswamy Temple is enclosed by 7 concentric walls and along the walls are gopurams, there are 21 of them. (Gopurams are towers at the entrance of the temple.) You have to take a walk of 6 miles along the walls if you wish to photograph all the gopurams.

Small vehicles are allowed till the third wall and from here on you have to walk bare feet in the temple premises. May be I will make a trip again, this time to systematically capture all the gopurams with my lens.

I posted on two of the gopurams, Rajagopuram and Vellayi Gopuram previously.

Golden Vimana of Srirangam Back view

Sriranga Golden Vimana

This post is on Vimanam, shrine over the sanctum sanctorum, Sriranga Vimana.

It is shaped like omkara (om symbol) and is plated with gold. In 1976 a special cover was issued by the Indian Postal department. You can have a look at it in Dokka Srinivasu’s post: Srirangam Temple Gopuram special cover.

Story of Srirangam Vimana Ranganathswamy Temple

Srirangam Vimana has a very interesting story from Ramayana, a Sanskrit epic of ancient India.

Golden Vimana srirangam front view

Golden Vimana Srirangam Front View South end

Golden Vimana of Srirangam as seen from Arjun Rathh

It was given to Vibhishana (Ravana’s brother) by Lord Ram as a token of thanks for helping him win the war with Ravana. Lord Ram instructed Vibhishana not to place it on ground till he reached Lanka (present day Sri Lanka).

On the way he paused at the banks of Cauvery and placed the Vimana there. On hearing this news, the King there and his people arrived at the scene and offered prayers.

Story of Sriranga Vimana Ranganathswamy Temple

Golden Vimana of Srirangam as seen from North end

Later when Vibhishana decided to take off for Lanka, he couldn’t dislodge the Vimana as it got rooted there. Vibhishana was upset, but God told him He was happy to reside there and Vibhishana had to return to Lanka empty handed.

Due to another episode God had to give River Cauvery a higher status, one which is almost equal to River Ganga. So He decided to recline here facing Lanka.

East side of Golden Vimana

East side of Vimana

East side of Vimana

The west view of the Vimana is not visible as their are structures and roof cover at that side.

Sri Ranganathswamy Temple is one of those rare temples of India where God is facing south direction. It is in the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage sites list since April 2015.

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Story of Srirangam Golden Vimana Ranganathaswamy Temple Tamil Nadu India

 

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