TriRanga Darshan

Vaishnavas consider the Triranga Darshanam as most valuable and significance when done between the Sunrise and sunset. 

TriRanga means visiting 3 Ranganatha temples.  The 3 Ranganatha temples are Adi Ranga, Madhya Ranga and Anthya Ranga. Adi Ranga is the Sri Ranganatha Swamy at Srirangapatna, Madhya Ranga is the Sri Jaganmohana Swamy at Shivanasamudra and Antya Ranga is the Sri Ranganatha of Srirangam at Trichinapalli/Tirchy.

This darshan is termed 'Brahmanda Darshanam' by many and it is believed that this relieves people of various malefic effects of planets.

Adi Ranga

This temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu is in the Mandya Dt of Karnataka. This is the first of the three Sri Ranganatha swami temples on a island formed by the river Kaveri.The Lord is in the Anantha Sayanam Pose, smiling at devotees and showering His profound blessings to the true devotee. Dated back to the ninth century AD this temple attracts devotees from all over the country. Saint Ramanuja stayed here for a long time . The temple is well maintained and the daily rituals are performed as per the rules laid in scriptures.

Madhya Ranga

Sri Ranganathaswamy is called as "Madhya Ranga". The God is in reclining posture as found in Srirangam and Srirangapatnam. It is said that the God here represents 'Youth' and hence also called as "Mohana Ranga".

The story behind how Shivanasamudra got its name has many versions. According to one, it is said that one day, Shiva and Parvathi were on a stroll in the sky and were observing the river Kaveri from above. Shiva observed that a huge rock obstructed the increasing ongoing flow of the river. But the river spread out like an ocean and surrounding that rock, flowed forward. Amazed by the sheer size of the river, which appeared to him as an ocean, Shiva proclaimed "Dhanya Kaveri" (Blessed river). Observing the ocean like river which impressed Shiva, Parvathi gave it the name "Shivanasamudra". All the temples have been built on the same rock which is famous today as Shivana Samudra.

Another version says Devendra who was affected from "Vruthra Hathya", was doing penance in several holy places. As per the instructions of Sri Brahma, he formed a beautiful Ranganatha Swany idol, a form of Vishnu, and started worshipping him here. One day, the water flow increased rapidly and started flooding the place. Concerned that his penance might be disturbed, Devendra, smashed a portion of the huge rock that this place was and made way for the river to flow ahead from either side of the rock. The river plummetted down with a lot of force from the right of the rock. This came to be known as the "Bharachukki" waterfall. From the left, it took a more steady approach to the cliff before diving down. This came to be known as the "Gaganachukki" waterfall. Devendra is said to have successfully completed his pooja and achieved expiation against his sin. Since the rock was smashed by Devendra, this place also got the name "Shila Bhedhana Kshetra".

The ancient Sri Someshwara Temple is another famous temple here at Shivanasamudra. Adi guru Sri Shankaracharya is said to visited this place and has established a "Sri Chakra" in this place. Surprisingly, it is believed that the Someshwara Linga here is said to have been existing much before the Ranganantha Idol and that the Saptarshis were performing pooja and worshipping this Linga.

The Shakthi Devathe temple of Vanadurga Devi is 1 Km away from the Someshwara temple. The goddess is also fondly worshipped by the name "Varaprasadi". Large number of devotees throng this place every Tuesday and nowadays Fridays and Sundays also attract more number of devotees. Just before Ugadi every year, annual festival is celebrated here.

Antya Ranga

Sriramgam temple is dedicated to Lord Ranganatha, who lies on His side reclining on a giant snake. Srirangam is one of the 108 divya deshams or temples dedicated to Lord Vishnu. It is in the tentative UNESCO heritage list.

This temple has as many as 21 gopurams built in 7 concentric circles. 7 circles are called Sapta prakarams. These walls enclose as many as 9 pushkarini or water pools, over 50 shrines and over 35 pavilions. It also has a 1000 pillar mandapam. The temple itself is built on an island formed by the rivers Kaveri and Kollidam. These outer gopurams can be seen from far off distance.

The outer two prakarams or courtyards are used for commercial purposes now. They house shops, residential buildings, flower shops and eateries.

The innermost prakaram is where Lord Ranganatha can be found reclining on the Adishesha or the 5 headed snake. He lies on his side. The Lord is beautiful to look at with His sweet smile. The vigraha is quite big too.

Of course where there is Vishnu, you will find Lakshmi. Here Lord Ranganatha is blessing His devotees along with Goddess Tayaru also called Ranganayaki. Her shrine is quite a distance from His.

In fact, this temple is so large that you need to be ready to walk a lot. The walk from the outer most to all the shrines is quite long and winding. If you stop to pray at various other shrines inside dedicated to other forms of Lord Vishnu like Rama, Gopal Krishna etc, and all the beautiful mandapas or pavilions, then you can be sure that your steps for the day will be definitely done!

The architecture of the temple is very beautiful. The sculptures and the attention to detail on them are so awesome to look at.

It was built by Chola kings in the 13th century. It has been rebuilt many times since because of damages from muslim invaders and floods from the surrounding rivers. The rebuilding has been done by Cholas, Nayakas and Vijayanagar empires. Their influences are clearly seen in the structures.