Ranga.. on the go.........

image:http://www.atmajyoti.org/images/srirangam-gopuram.jpg

Nostalgia is universal but how is that feeling that is always with you irrespective of time, place, the sublime shrinking world and everything else that can mesmerize and even potentially destroy nostalgia! called? Perhaps it can be called as “eternalgia”. Well I am not coining words but I do not know any word that would describe such a feeling. Eternalgia is common with everyone but only the level of eternalgia changes from one individual to another.
Amidst all common life activities, God and Temples form the crux of duty for everyone back in India. Well, some may argue that life is changing. Yes I agree, but still God and Temples are important for most people (atleast for favors if not for devotion). The God still seems to answer the prayers.
Well, I grew up in one of the important religious centers of south India, Srirangam and I atleast know how this God plays a vital role in the activities of the city. The temple is supposedly the largest functioning Hindu temple in the world with seven prakaras around it and different gopurams at various axial positions. The prakaras are the different tiers, outer ones of which now form the residential and market complex. Gopurams are the towers that are present in different locations in different sizes. The tallest gopura (235 ft) in the front called the Rajagopuram is the tallest temple tower in Asia. The very sight of the Rajagopuram is considered auspicious and holy and evokes prayers from the travelers in buses and trains. All businesses and activities here prosper along with the temple.
From mendicants to millionaires, the rule of life is simple, “prayers and duties” (there may be exceptions).
The way to the temple is lined on either side with shops: shops selling offerings (fruits, beetlenut leaves, coconut, camphor, flowers), shops for the residents of Srirangam, shops for tourists, eateries etc.,
This slowly paves way to the next tier welcoming us with a gopuram entrance. As we go towards the sanctum we see a number of shrines for gods, saints and devotees……………..
During my days at Srirangam, going to the temple was like an everyday duty, a ritual I could not miss; sometimes with my parents and sometimes with friends. Among my friends, a guy, sriram introduced me to the great book called “Tiruvarangan Ula”: The travel of Ranga. This book was all about the temple at srirangam and the events that happened around it in the 14th century. He had already read that book twice before he told me in detail about the lucidity of writing and the stunning truths about the temple which most of us do not know. It instilled in me a desire to get a copy for myself and enjoy its warmth.
I did get my copy a few months later and started reading it with full vigor and superfluous interest.
The story is all set in the 14th century and it is all about how the God at srirangam is protected from the mohammadean conquerors during the period of khiljis and tughlaqs. It is all about the devotion of the people of srirangam at that time who revered Lord Ranga not only as God but as their own king who rules the whole world from the seat at srirangam. It is about the fleeing of the residents of srirangam from their houses carrying lord Ranga to protect him from the conquerors hands.
The northern parts of India were very often exposed to all kinds of conquests by foreigners and to bloody wars. The south had its own trouble of smaller warring kingdoms most of the time. Of course the southern part had its own share of big kingdoms but the rulers were not foreigners but one of their own blood. Very rarely did the conquerors from north show interest in capturing the southern parts of India. One such instance was in the 14th century when the Hoysalas and Pandyas were the puppets of Khiljis and Tughlaqs. During this conquest, the idol at srirangam, revered as Lord Ranga was forcefully taken to Delhi. But how can the people of srirangam go without a king? So they decided to get back the idol. A group of dancers from srirangam pleased the ruler of Delhi somehow and got the idol back. There is also an offshoot to this story that the daughter of the king was so attached to the idol that she fell sick as soon as the idol was taken from her and finally died unable to find the idol. There is a shrine for that devoted girl in the temple of srirangam, very close to the sanctum.
The next conquest came in a very short time after the first. Forty years later, Mohammad Bin Tughlaq and his army seiged the gates and walls of srirangam to plunder the temple. This time the residents of srirangam and the devotees of Lord Ranga did not want him in the alien hands. They protected the bigger immovable valuable assests of temple by behind the walls and below the ground. The biggest risk lay with the utsavar idol. Feeling that they could not give enough protection for lord Ranga inside the temple, the chiefs of the temple left the temple along with the utsavar and thus started the great journey. For the next fifty odd years the omnipresent was hidden and protected from the Moslems in search of the same.
There was desperation in the Moslem camps. They badly wanted to lay their hands on the idols, especially Lord Ranga.
But why were the Moslems after the idols?
There have been several temple demolitions and idol desecrations throughout the history of moslem rule in India. There were several instances of such happenings which are not accounted at all. This was one of the very few, the most famous being the Somnath temple desecration and looting. The rationale and logical reasoning for the motives behind all these actions are given beautifully in the book “Vandhargal Venrargal”, again introduced to me by the same sriram: primary reasons being gold, jewels and idol worship. The later conquest in certain contexts is related to the first one, owing to the idol mesmerizing the emperor’s daughter. Also, Idol desecration was one of their main goals owing to the semblance of some of the idols here to the ones at their sacred place!? I am not discussing that here
Going back again to Lord Ranga, he was not just an idol to the people here but he was their symbol of hope, their beliefs, moral. He was the symbol of their life, civilization and culture. He was their King and he was everything for them. The residents of srirangam had already scattered to the villages that were around the temple cursing themselves for not being able to save Lord Ranga.
Starting from Srirangam, the places to which Lord Ranga was taken were Azhagar Koil, Madurai, Ettayapuram, Aazhvar Tirunagari, Nagercoil, Trivandrum, Kollam, Kozhikode, Sathyamangalam and finally into the forests of Tirupati hills. All these were under the rule of Moslems who were scouting their troops looking for this idol. Again, many idols had to be kept hidden but the devotees of Ranga felt that it was just not right on their part to leave their king without proper attention. They did not want to get separated from him.
At first the Hoysalas tried to offer help to free the temple, but that resulted only in their clan destruction. It was only after a long period of time, the great Vijayanagara kingdom came in to being and the early rulers of Vijayanagara reinstated Lord Ranga back at the temple after defeating the sultans at Madurai decisively at a war.
The story also states that Lord Ranga was also taken to the battle field along with the army to oversee the happenings of the war: like a king. But the lemma in reinstating the idol after bringing the idol back to the temple after the victory is one more touching story.
In the middle of 16th century, the Nayakars at Tanjore and Madurai became independent from the Vijayanagara kingdom. The three kingdoms have done a great deal of good for the temple during the difficult periods.
Swami Vedanta Desika needs a special mention. He was one of the greatest devotees of the Lord Ranga and one of the greatest gurus for people who seeked him. He played a vital role in the temple affairs, he saved the sons of the sudarshana bhattar from the conquering hands, he erected the wall at the sanctum and he was one of the four people who had lived throughout to witness all these events and pass on to the next generation, the saga and Ranga. The four people: One was Lord Ranga himself, two was Swamy Desikan and to know about the third and fourth individuals involved in the saga, you need to experience the events from the book.
The book is written expertly with the right combination of truth and fiction in a heart rendering way.
I bought the book from Srirangam but I came to know from various sources that the book is available at Higginbotham’s book shop at Chennai. The Story is in Tamil (only Tamil), four volumes (books) and is written by the famous writer Pushpa Thangadurai in the name of Sri Venugopalan.
Its been a few years now since I read the novel but hoping to read it again soon.
May Lord Ranga Bless us.