Description
The temple is located in the Mandya district, which is 125 km away from capital city of Bangalore. The biggest major city close to the temple is Mysore, at 15 km. The Nearest major railway station is Mysore while the nearest airport is Bangalore. There are frequent state buses that are available from Bangalore to Mandya.
History
The temple is considered as one among the architectural antiques and is known for its unique artifacts by the Archaeological Survey of India. As history says, a thief known as Tirumalaiah, vassal of West Ganges Empire first sanctified the temple in 984 AD. There is an inscription in the temple which supports this legend. In the beginning of the twelfth century, the village was turned into a place of learning when Hoysala emperor Vishnuvardhana (1108-1152) gifted the village to the Vaishnava saint, Ramanujacharya as an agraharam. The Hoysala king VeeraBallala II has inscribed in the temple about additions and refurbishments that were made to Srirangapatnam temple during those period. There is a tower at the entrance of the temple that is remarkable piece of wonder that resembles Vijayanagra architecture.The temples current architecture also has some contributions by Wodeyar kings from kingdom of Mysore. The Indian government has protected the Sirangapatnam Shri Rangasawamy temple of Mysore as a monument of national importance.
Importance/Significance
The Ranganthaswamy temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu and is referred to as Sri Ranganathaswam in Srirangapatina, located in the Mandya district of Karnataka state in India. The temple is dedicated to Hindu lord Rangnath who is believed to be the incarnation of Vishnu The srirangapatna temple is one of the important temples of Karnataka in terms of its pilgrimage value. It is one of the five important temples located on the banks of the river Kaveri. These five temples hold importance as religious sites that are dedicated to lord Ranga, collectively called as Pancharanga Kshetrams. The Srirangaptana temple is the first temple of Ranganath that starts from upstream of Kaveri, thus the idol there was known as AdiRanga that refers to the first Ranga. The village of Srirangapatna, in Mandya district in Karnataka, is named after the temple, and is located on island in Kaveri.
Facts/Mythology
As described earlier about the temple's significant architecture, it has a striking tower over the main entrance gate known as a gopuram. There are two prakaras in the temple made of large concentric rectangular appendices around the enclosure of the temple. Multiple columned halls known as a mantapa acts as a passage way to the inner sanctum called gharbhagriha.The main structures of the temple are vestibule (sukhanasi), the front hall (mukhamantapa) and a colored hall known as navaranaga/mantapa. The ceiling of the front hall is decorated with garlands of decorative towers, known as kudu and salasikharas, whose positions have stucco images of lord Vishnu.Inside the temple, the Adidesha snake coils beneath an image of Vishnu. The seven heads of the snake are under the canopy, under which lord Vishnu reclines with his spouse goddess Lakshmi at the base. There are other deities as well adjacent to Vishnu's idol. The other deities are Sridevi, Bhudevi- or Earth Goddess, and Brahma- the creator of Universe. There are smaller temples inside the sanctum itself that houses Narasimha- the Vishnu avatar, Gopalakrishna, Srinivasa- Vishnu's another incarnation, Maruti, Garuda and some other Alwar saints.
Festivals/Events/Gatherings
It is believed that whoever visits these five Rangnath temples located on banks of Kaveri, will get salvation for sure. Devotees all over India throng to these temples during Kotarothsava festival- dedicated to the lord of temple.
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