Lord Vishnu is one of the principal deities of Hindus. People from every corner of India worship Vishnu in their own ways. Lord Vishnu is known by many names such as Hari, Venkateshwar, Vasudeva, Rangantha in South India. Other than these, there is also a glorious Vaishnavism Srirangam Temple made in the name of Lord Vishnuspread over 155 acres is located in the large island surrounded by theKaveri River and Koliidam River.
This Temple is considered as the largest Hindu temple which was re-built in the 14thcentury. Its origin can be traced back to the 3rdCenturyB.C., but some historians claim it to be from the9th Century A.D. It is located in Srirangam, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India which is very near to Tiruchillapali International airport. One can easily reach here by air, by road or by train. This temple has evidences of historical inspections of Sangam Era. The scripts are written in many languages such as Tamil, Sanskrit, Telugu, Marathi, Oriya and Kannada. Apart from 7 Parikramas, the interior of the temple has been beautifully designed with 81 shrines, 21 astonishing Gopurams and 39 magnificent pavilions. Many of these shrines are devoted to goddess Lakshmi and many firm to Vaishnavism. This epic temple compound consists of 1000 pillars which is made usinggranite. The entrance of the temple is embellished with seven chakras, which symbolizes our body and soul.Themajor facts that we would really like to highlightof this temple, that it is not only the hub for Bhakti, but it also caters many charitable institutions where education and hospitality services are provided to the underprivileged. Theyeven run a gratuitous kitchen from the donation it receives. UNESCO has also nominated this compound as its world heritage site. More importantly, this place is home to many chariots, local visitors. There are also massive water tanks as well, these tankshave the capacity to store two million litres.
This holy place is maintained by Hindu Religious and Tamil Nadu government, along with three trustees and the chairman selected by the board of trustees. Thousands of Devotees come from many miles with their vow to take part in Utsavam, PagalPathu and Ra Pathuand many more festivals and worship Lord Ranganatha. The idol of Lord Ranganatha is uniquely crafted with the paste of musk, Stucco, Thailam, camphor, honey, Jaggery and sandal in a reclining pose. The shape is designed like the term OM encrypted in Tamil. Devotees come here in large number to have Darshan of Lord Rangantha and all 81 shrines with full faith and devotion. These include all forms of Lord Vishnu and Goddess Lakshmi.
The Srirangam Temple timings for daily worship programs are split into Pooja timings and Darshan timings for devotees.
(Temple timings may vary according to the festivals and emergency poojas)
Pooja Timings are:
- 6:00 to 7:15 (ViswaroopaSeva)
- 7:15 to 9:00 (No Darshan)
- 12:00 to 13:15 (No Darshan)
- 18:00 to 18:45 (No Darshan)
Darshan Timings are:
- 9:00 to 12:00
- 13:15 to 18:00
- 18:45 to 21:00
So, if you are looking to take your family to a pilgrimage, you need not to search for is any other place. You must plan a visit to this temple of Lord Vishnu to bestow your family and yourself with blessings and positivity.
