The world's largest functioning Hindu Temple

Dedicated to Lord Vishnu, the ‘Ranganathaswamy Temple’ located on the Srirangam Island of the Tiruchirapalli city in Tamilnadu, is another masterpiece of the Dravidian architecture. Spread across an area of over 150 acres, the temple has 49 sub-shrines and is dotted with 21 brilliantly carved Gopurams with the ‘Raja Gopuram’ standing tall at 236 ft. making it the tallest in Asia. This temple is the biggest functioning Hindu temple in the world.

A part of the temple is actually dedicated to temple activities whereas the remaining portion serves as a township for people, therefore making this temple one of a kind. This is the first amongst the 108 ‘Divya Desams’.

While the exact date of temple’s consecration is still not known, according to archaeological records, the original structure of the temple dates back to 10th century when the region was under the rule of Chola dynasty. In the 14th century, the temple was plundered of its wealth by invaders and was again restored to its original grandeur by the Vijayanagara and Nayaka rulers in late 16th century. The magnificent thousand-pillared hall can leave anyone awed with its artistic brilliance; the exquisitely carved figures of horses standing on their rear legs depicting war scenes on the base of these pillars offer a true spectacle.

This temple lies on an island formed by the twin Rivers Cauvery and Kollidam. The temple is also known by other names such as Thiruvaranga Tirupati, Periyakoil, Bhoologa Vaikundam and Bhogamandabam.

Over the years, the temple has been invaded several times, but the legend of Vellayi is prominent even today. It goes like this:

On the eastern entrance of the Srirangam temple, there stands a white tower, popularly known as the Vellayi Gopuram. Residents of Srirangam call this east tower as the Vellai Gopuram. It has been painted white by the temple authorities. The tower has actually been named after a Devadasi called Vellayi who had sacrificed her life to protect the idol of Namperumal from the Sultanate forces who had invaded the temple.

Srirangam was attacked by the Sultanate forces in the year 1323 during the Tamil month of Vaikasi. Nearly, 12,000 residents of Srirangam island had laid down their lives fighting to protect the temple. The forces attacked the temple and Lord Ranganatha's jewels and the temple gold were taken away.

The forces also wanted to seize the idol of Namperumal, which they believed was made of pure ‘Abaranji' gold. They searched for the idol but the Vaishnavite Acharya, Pillailokacharya had taken the idol away and fled to Madurai. The idol of Namperumal that left Srirangam in 1323 returned back only in 1371.

Unable to locate the idol, the Sultanate forces killed the temple authorities and later launched a massive hunt for Pillailokacharya and Namperumal.

Fearing that the forces would capture the Acharya and the idol, Vellayi, performed a dance before the commander of the forces thus gaining time for Pillailokacharya to escape with the idol.

Her dance lasted for hours together and finally she took the commander to the eastern gopuram and pushed him down. After killing him, Vellayi jumped to her death from the tower chanting the name of Ranganathar.

Hailing Vellayi's sacrifice, the chief of Vijayanagara forces, Kempanna, who drove away the Sultanate forces, named the tower after her. The gopuram continues to be painted white in her memory.