Museum Trail of Tales: The glory of Thiruvarangam Sri Ranganatha

Welcome to Srirangam or Thiruvarangam….

Revered as the first and foremost Vaishnavite shrine among the one hundred and eight sacred places or ‘Divyadeshams’, the Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple is located in the beautiful river island of Srirangam or Thiruvarangam encircled by the mighty River Kaveri and its wider distributary Kollidam. This is the world’s largest functioning temple complex spanning one hundred and fifty-six acres with seven concentric walls, twenty-one towers or Gopurams, fifty shrines, thirty-nine pavilions and about a dozen sacred ponds.

In Vaishanvite parlance, the very term ‘Koil’ refers to this temple only. All Alwar saints have praised the supreme Lord here. A number of legends glorify this shrine while its rich history and association with a number of historic kingdoms make it a must visit archaeological and epigraphic site. The temple also received the prestigious UNESCO’s Asia Pacific award of merit for heritage conservation and is also included in the tentative list of World Heritage Sites. The temple is located about ten kilometers from the city of Tiruchirappalli located in the South Indian State of Tamil Nadu.

Our ‘India Heritage Transmedia Project’ has been conceived as a virtual learning platform for discerned travelers who can enrich and cherish the rich culture and heritage of India. The project has been planned as transmedia storytelling across multiple platforms and formats using current digital technologies. This audio, a part of the project in the ‘Trail of Tales’ literary tour series takes you through the interesting legends and stories associated with this mighty temple complex. Go through this, enjoy your visit and get blessed….

We request you to see the ‘i’ icon in a circle to see and read the text of the audio. We recommend you to thoroughly go through this script along with hearing the audio.

The use of mobile phones will be restricted inside the inner sanctum sanctorum. Hence, go through the audio and then try to go through the details inside. This is a functioning temple. Please obey the rules and traditions of the temple and instructions of the authorities.