SERIES - 3

Moving through the serpentine queues, Swati and Abhijit entered the Śrīraṅgam temple through the Raṅgā Raṅgā Gōpuram, the main southern side tower to enter the temple complex. This being the first time they were visiting the kṣētra, the sheer expanse struck them. The temple seemed to be just flowing in all directions and their excitement grew as they started exploring the temple.

They found a textbook example of what they had generally heard or read about living temples, in this temple town. Be it the resident quarters in the Cittirai and Uttirai vīdi-s, the shops inside and outside the temple, the ponds, the well-maintained gardens, the sheds for the cows, horses and elephants who also serve the lord, the numerous sub shrines for various godheads, shrines for the poet-musicians of the Vaishnavite tradition – Āẕvār-s, shrines for various preceptors – Ācārya-s, the temple kitchens – Maḍappaḷḷi-s, the different Maṇṭapa-s spread throughout the temple and earmarked for different festivals for the goddess and the lord of Śrīraṅgam, and the stars of the whole town - the shrines of Śrī Raṅganāyaki and Śrī Raṅganātha.

Śrīraṅgam has the reputation of being the magnet for all good things. 11 of the 12 Āẕvār-s have sung on godheads, and in this eleven, Toṇḍaraḍippoḍi Āẕvār has sung only on this temple (one of the most famous of his pāsuram-s is ‘Paccai Māmalai Pōl Mēni’), while the ten others have sung on Śrīraṅgam and other temples as well. Thus, this is the only temple on which all eleven have sung – a record which no other temple has, making this the foremost among the Divya Dēśa-s. Araiyar-s, the temple musicians who offer the Āẕvār-s’ pāsuram-s to the divine couple of Śrīraṅgam using music, dance and drama since the 9th century CE, hail the lord during his procession as “Padiṉmar Pāḍum Perumāḷ!” - the lord on whom eleven have sung, as a record of this uniqueness.

Various preceptors of the Vaishnavite tradition, who were born in different places spread across south of India, and many other great philosophers from different parts of the country such as Śrī Ādi Śaṅkara, Śrī Vyāsarāja, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu have visited the kṣētra and/or left distinct marks of contribution with relation to Śrīraṅgam.

The same is seen with poets and musicians as well. Starting from the age-old works of the Āẕvār-s, to verses in the Saṅgam literature works such as Aganāṉūṟu (2nd century CE), Silappadigāram (5th century CE), to Kavicakravarti Kambar who did the araṅgēṟṟam (the public debut) of his famous Rāmāyaṇa in this temple, to pre-trinity composers such as Annamayyā, Mārgadarśī Śeṣa Ayyaṅgār, Purandara Dāsa and other saints of the Dāsa Kūṭa, Aruṇācala Kavirāyar, Ūttukkāḍu Vēṅkaṭa Kavi and many others, to Tyāgarāja and Muttusvāmi Dīkṣita, followed by a host of post-trinity composers, Śrīraṅgam has attracted a lot of great art and serves as a repository of all this and much more.

Swati and Abhijit, who had entered the temple through the south side of the 5th prākāra (corridor) of the temple, walked to the Tāyār Sannidhi after having a sēvai at the shrines of Śrī Cakkarattāẕvār (a) Sudarśana, the discus of Lord Viṣṇu, and Śrī Rāmānuja, the great philosopher-preceptor. As they came near the shrine of the goddess, the first thing that struck them was the Kambar Maṇṭapam, located just opposite Tāyār’s shrine.

“Abhijit, do you know the story associated with this Maṇṭapa?” “No, Swati… I do not know anything specific.”

“So, when Kambar decided to do araṅgēṟṟam of his Rāmāyaṇa, he chose Śrīraṅgam for its importance as one of the foremost temples and a centre of great learning with large number of scholars whose approval will give unquestionable validity to his work. The day of the Hasta nakṣatra (star) in the month of Paṅguṉi, in the year Śālivāhana era 807, was chosen for the araṅgēṟṟam and it was held in this very same Maṇṭapam, with Kambar reciting his work, surrounded by dozens of scholars of various subjects. As Kambar progressed, doubts and questions were raised and he clarified them successfully and proceeded.

When he came to the point in the Yuddha Kāṇḍam where Vibhīṣaṇa tries to dissuade Rāvaṇa from going to war with Rāma, Kambar had made an interesting addition, that was not in Vālmīki’s Rāmāyaṇa. In Kambar’s work, as Vibhīṣaṇa explains the valour of Lord Rāma who is Viṣṇu incarnate, he recites the story of the Narasimhāvatāra explaining how the Lord wins over Hiraṇyakaśipu, to Rāvaṇa. Now, this was not acceptable to scholars as Narasimhāvatāra was not described by Vālmīki and they started questioning him about this. As Kambar slowly continued reciting, he came to the verse where he describes how Narasimha emerges out of the pillar that Hiraṇyakaśipu hits.

திசை திறந்து, அண்டம் கீறச் சிரித்தது, அச் செங் கண் சீயம்!

With a laughter, as though splitting all the directions and tearing through the universe, emerged that red-eyed lion!

On hearing this, some people in the audience ridiculed the verse saying how a lion could have laughed. Slowly, as the laughter started growing amongst the crowd, they suddenly heard a thunderous and deafening laughter, as though the verse itself had come to life.

As they turned to the direction of the laughter with great fear in their hearts, they saw Lord Narasimha, located in his Sannidhi just near the Kambar Maṇṭapam, laughing loudly with his hands raised, as though approving Kambar’s work! All objections were withdrawn and the work was approved as it was. Kambar was hailed with the title Kavi Cakravarti - the emperor among poets, on this occasion.

As you can see, there are a set of steps going up, just near the Kambar Maṇṭapam. On that raised mound is the Sannidhi of Mēṭṭaẕagiya Siṅgar, where the same Lord Narasimha who approved Kamba Rāmāyaṇam gives all of us sēvai with a laughing face and a raised hand till date, as was seen on the day of the araṅgēṟṟam! Let us go there and then come to Tāyār Sannidhi.”

After a sēvai in the Narasimha Sannidhi, they entered the Sannidhi of the goddess. It looked like a temple by itself with huge pillars that were unthinkably high. Goddess Śrī Raṅganāyaki, resplendent in her form, with an ever-smiling merciful face, resides in this temple in all grandeur. After a leisurely sēvai, with their hearts still not willing to move out from there, they slowly came out of the Sannidhi. As they proceeded to do the pradakṣiṇa (circumambulation), Abhijit said, “No wonder Muttusvāmi Dīkṣita composed a song, separately dedicated to Tāyār in Śrīraṅgam, and what an exquisite composition is that…” and went on to hum the composition in rāga Maṅgaḷa Kaiśikī

śrī bhārgavī bhadram mē diśatu

śrīraṅga dhāmēśvarī

May goddess Bhārgavī (another name for Lakṣmī, referring to her being born as a daughter of Mahaṛṣi Bhṛgu), goddess of the town of Śrīraṅgam, bestow me with prosperity!

And, as he continued humming and walking, he suddenly came to a pause.

“Swati, here is a very interesting interpretation I heard, for a line in the caraṇa of this song.

sāmaja hēmakumbha snapitā vijayatu

Simply translated, it means, may she who is bathed by elephants which carry golden pitchers, be victorious. This is typically how Goddess Gajalakṣmī is depicted.

But, with reference to Śrīraṅgam, there may be another way to see this. On the day of Jyēṣṭhābhiṣēkam, which happens in the Tamiẕ month of Āṉi every year, when Tiru̱mañjaṉam (ceremonial bath) is done to the mūrti of the goddess without the golden kavaca (armour), the water collected from the river is carried by an elephant in a golden pitcher, a picture-perfect description of this event is present in that line!”

"Very interesting! In another gem of his, in the rāga Nāyaki, he describes the lord as 'Raṅganāyakī Samētam Śrī Raṅganāyakam Bhāvayēham' - I meditate upon the lord of Śrīraṅgam who is accompanied by goddess Raṅganāyakī. Dīkṣita also weaves the rāga name as a part of Tāyār's name itself. This song along with the famous 'Raṅgapuravihāra', describe various aspects of the temple such as the:

Sthala Purāṇa (details on origin of the temple) - dinamaṇikula bhava rāghava ārādhanam (the one worshipped by Rāghava (Rāma), born in the solar dynasty), agaṇita suguṇagaṇa nata vibhīṣaṇam (the one prostrated by Vibhīṣaṇa who has countless virtues), paṅkajāptakula jalanidhi sōma (the one who was the moon to the ocean-like solar dynasty), 

the architecture - praṇavākāra divya vimānam (the name of the vimānam under which Lord Raṅganātha resides), maṇimaya sadanam (the one who resides in a gem-studded abode),

the devotees - guṇi jana kṛta vēdapārāyaṇam (the chanting of the veda-s done by the devotees), satsaṅga (the one who is in the company of the righteous), bhakta santōṣa (the one pleased with his devotees), 

and the lord himself – kṛpā apāṅgam (the one with merciful side glances), phaṇipati śayanam (the one reclining on the king of the snakes – Ādi Śēṣha), padma nayanam (the lotus-eyed one), śyāmaḷa aṅga (the one with a dark hued body), ēṇāṅka ravi nayana (the one who has the moon and the sun as his eyes), akaḷaṅka darpaṇa kapōla viśeṣa (the one who is famous for his blemishless mirror like cheeks)." said Swati as they walked out of the Tāyār Sannidhi and entered the fourth prākāra of the temple.

They could hear the faint sound of music coming from somewhere, it was definitely the strains of rāga Kāmbhōji and as they walked inside, it was very clear and what else could it be! An instrumental rendition of the magnum opus on Śrīraṅgam - 'Ō Raṅgaśāyi', being played on the public announcement system of the temple.

Abhijit said to Swati, "I always wondered why the syllable ‘Ō’, entreating the lord is sung for such a length, in the song. I then heard a very interesting interpretation, two of them actually.

The syllable ‘Ō’ in the pallavi starts in a calm way in the lower region of the madhya sthāyī (middle octave), and it grows and grows in each succeeding saṅgati (variation), reaching a crescendo where it traverses the whole middle octave and half the upper octave as well, almost as if calling the lord in an exasperated manner.

But despite all the variations in the syllable ‘Ō’, the word ‘Raṅgaśāyi’ always reaches the same calm phrase in the lower octave. This can be interpreted as a way in which the composer, despite his repeated calling while pleading to the lord, is doing so without disturbing his state of Bhōga Śayanam, as he is majestically reclining on his Ādiśeṣa in the Mūlasthāna of the Śrīraṅgam temple.

The other interesting interpretation is that when one sees the Lord of Śrīraṅgam in his huge form, one just gapes open mouthed and it takes a long time to have a complete sēvai of the lord, traversing ones eyes from his lotus feet to his beautiful locks of hair. This leads to Tyāgarāja singing 'Ō... Ō... Ō... Ō... Ō... Ō... Raṅgaśāyi', say some."

"So beautiful! So, he is calling the lord in all emotions possible, with various tones of the ‘Ō’, beseeching him to respond!

ō raṅgaśāyi pilacitē

ō anucu rādā

O Lord reclining in Śrīraṅgam, can't you come to me responding with an 'Ō!', when I'm calling you?

Such beautiful words! Śrīraṅganātha is known to have interacted with his devotees, time and again. Maybe, Tyāgarāja records this fact too, when he entreats the lord to respond to him."

Having almost reached the Āryabhaṭṭāl Vāsal, the entrance point to the third prākāra of the temple, they noticed some commotion. Going there, they learn to their dismay that the afternoon Tiru̱vārādhaṉam (the ritual of worship) was happening. The security guard informed them that the sēvai would restart only after 2 PM and their return train was at 3 PM, cutting it too tight.

"Well, that's a bit upsetting, Abhijit! While we had a wonderful time exploring the temple, we will have to miss having a sēvai of Raṅganātha, what do we do?"

"I have an idea! We anyways plan to visit Tiru̱vaiyāru̱ for the coming Tyāgarāja Ārādhana! Let's visit Śrīraṅgam during that trip, we will get more time too!"

"Ah yes, that's a great idea! Good that it struck your mind, now we can leave with the excitement of coming back. Fast fast, let's take an auto to the lodge and reach the station soon, we are running out of time!"