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Temple of love : A visit to Srirangam

temple on the Panguni Uthiram day is

said to relieve one of all sins, says SPrabhu who traces the history of the

Uraiyur temple and the love story of

Lord Ranganatha and goddess

Kamalavalli. Located between the two

famous rivers Cauvery and Coloroon

and spread over 150 acres, is

Ranganatha Swamy Temple in

Srirangam. It is considered the most

sacred among Divya Desams (Vishnu temples praised by the 12saint poets called Azhvaars). This place is also called Bhoologa Vaikuntam (heaven on

earth). There are 21 towers in this temple and the biggest temple tower in Asia (236ft) is

at Srirangam. In the third week of March this year, Lord Ranganatha of Srirangam will

travel across the Cauvery to meet his beloved goddess Kamalavalli in Uraiyur (Trichy). A

few days later, in the same week, at the Srirangam temple, one can witness the event of

goddess Ranganayaki shutting the door on Lord Ranganatha for having visited goddess

Kamalavalli and gifted her his ring.

The love story: Uraiyur was the first capital of the Chozhas and is also the birth place of

Thiruppaan Azhvaar who composed 10 famous verses on Lord Ranganatha calledAmalanaathipiraan. Uraiyur temple is built inmemory of goddess Kamalavallis love forLord Ranganatha. The story goes thatChozha king Nanda Chozhan was childless.Pleased with his prayers, Lord Ranganathaasked goddess Lakshmi to be born as thekings daughter at Uraiyur. Being born froma lotus, the goddess at Uraiyur is called

Kamalavalli. As years went by, Kamalavalligrew up into a beautiful young girl. One

day, while she was playing with her friends, her eyes fell on a handsome lad, LordRanganatha of Srirangam, and fell in love with him instantly. King Nanda Chozhan was ina fix as his daughter had fallen in love with the man, who had blessed the king with thechild. The Lord accepted the king's prayers and agreed to take her as his bride. Delightedat this, Nanda Chozhan built the temple at Uraiyur to celebrate it. On March 18, LordNamPerumal (Ranganatha), the utsav deity of Srirangam temple, in all his splendour, willleave Srirangam at 4 am across river Cauvery in a golden palanquin to meet his belovedgoddess Kamalavalli for the Kalyana Utsav (marriage festivities). On this auspicious day inthe Tamil month of Panguni (mid March-mid April), the entire marriage formalitiesbetween Lord Ranganatha and goddess Kamalavalli will be enacted at the Uraiyur temple.

Here, one can see Kamalavalli in a grand sitting posture all set to get married. A uniquefeature of this temple is that this is the only Divya Desam (out of the 108) where thegoddess is facing the Northern direction or in the direction of the Srirangam Ranganatha

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temple. After the marriage festivities are enacted, Lord Ranganatha will take the trip backto Srirangam across the Cauvery that same night at 1.30 am. The story goes that goddessRanganayaki of Srirangam came to know about the Lords trip to Uraiyur. This angeredgoddess Ranganayaki.

A couple of days after his return from Uraiyur, on

the occasion of Panguni Uthiram, the Lord visits thegoddess at her Sannidhi. With the temple elephantleading the way and hundreds of temple priests chantingthe Naalaayira Divya Prabhandham (4000 songs of the

Azhvaars), the Lord goes from house to house asking formoney to buy a ring so that the goddess doesnt come toknow that he has presented his ring to goddessKamalavalli. After over three hours on the street in thehot summer sun, the Lord reaches the Sannidhi ofgoddess Ranganayaki. Goddess Ranganayaki shuts the

door on the Lord and refuses to allow him entry into theSannidhi. Despite repeated attempts to force his wayinto the Sannidhi, the door is shut on the Lord.

For the next couple of hours, there is a war ofwords between Lord Ranganatha and goddessRanganaayaki (reenacted by the priests from both thesides). It is then that NammAzhvaar, the greatest ofthe Azhvaars, is brought in to settle this fight.NammAzhvaar advises the goddess not to insult theLord and to save him from further embarrassment.

After this intense debate, goddess Ranganayakifinally relents. With the debate ending successfully,the Lord enters the Sannidhi of the goddess, goesto the Serthi Mandap and is seen together with

the goddess for the rest of the day and night. This is the onlyday in the year where Lord Ranganatha and goddessRanganayaki are seen together and hence considered asacred occasion. There are special poojas performedthrough the day and night for the Lord and thegoddess. At around 5.45 am the next morning,

Lord Ranganatha bids good bye to her. It isbelieved that a visit to the Srirangam temple onthis day will relieve one of all sins and the Lordand the goddess are said to forgive devotees forall their wrongs.FESTIVAL DETAILS *March 18, 4 am LordNamPerumal of Srirangam leaves for Uraiyur acrossthe Cauvery.*March 19, 1.30 am Lord leaves Uraiyur for Srirangam. *March 21 The only day in the year when the goddess Ranganayaki and LordRanganatha are seen together. *March 22, 5.45 am Lord Ranganatha leaves theGoddess for another year. http://deccanherald.com/Content/Feb242008/finearts2008022353835.aspsent by Sri. Dr. Oppiliappan Koil Sadagopan Swami, NY.

http://deccanherald.com/Content/Feb242008/finearts2008022353835.asphttp://deccanherald.com/Content/Feb242008/finearts2008022353835.asphttp://deccanherald.com/Content/Feb242008/finearts2008022353835.asp