19th January
2020
It was a long wish to
explore the congested streets of George Town and Sowcarpet areas of the old
black town in Madras City. Many temples were existed before the British came to
Madras and many temples constructed during their periods also. This Ranganathar
Temple is about 100 meters from Arunachaleswarar Temple on Mulla Sahib Street.
Sri Ranga Vimana
Moolavar :
Sri Ranganathar
Consort :
Sri Ranganayaki
Some of the salient
features of this temple are...
The temple faces
east with a mottai gopuram ( Rajagopuram base without superstructure). Deepa Sthambam, balipeedam, Dwajasthambam and
Garudan. The Moolavar stucco image is on the Mukha mandapam. Keeping Moolavar
Ranganathar at the center on his right is Nammalwar and on his left
is Ramanujar. Moolavar Ranganathar is with 4 hands, reclining posture on
Adiseshan keeping his head on the south side facing north. Brahma is from his naval
and Sridevi and Bhudevi are at his feet in sitting posture. The processional deity
is Sri Parthasarathi, who was brought from Thiruvallikeni/ Triplicane.
Like Moolavar Sannadhi, Thayar Sannidhi was built with three sannadhis. On the right of Thayar
Krishna as Venugopalan Sannadhi. Venugopala is with Bama & Rukmani. Cattle
is shown behind Venugopala.
In Prakaram
Anjaneyar, Thulasi madam, Srinivasa Perumal, Sri Varadharajar Sannadhi.
Patha mandapam, Yoga Narasimhar and Alwars. In Ramar, Sannidhi Rama is with Sita,
Lakshmanan, Bharata, and Shatrughna. Hanuman is in a kneeling posture with hands in Anjali hasta.
ARCHITECTURE
The Temple consists of Sanctum, antarala, artha mandapam, maha mandapam and mukha mandapam.
The Vimanam is called as Ranga / pranavakara Vimanam. The koshtams are empty.
On the back side of the sanctum, Periya Thiruvadi and Siya Thiruvadi ( Garuda
& Hanuman ) are facing each other in a worshiping posture in the form of a stucco image bas-relief. The Vimana is of two tiers with stucco
images of Ramar, Sita, and Lakshmana, and Varahamurthy with Sridevi &
Bhudevi on the back side, Ranganathar and Lakshmi Narasimhar on the south side,
Vaikunthanath, and Kalinga Narthana Krishna, Venugopala are on the north
side. Mukha mandapam was built during Vijayanagara nayak period.
Ranga Vimana Back side
HISTORY AND
INSCRIPTIONS
The temple is more
than 200 years old with 1824CE Telugu inscriptions. A Telugu inscription
tablet, about thirupani, or the renovation of the sanctum is laid on the wall.
As per the inscription the work was started in 1959 and completed in 1960. The
names of the donors are inscribed and some of the names are inscribed in Tamil.
Interestingly many people donated 116 Rupees ( why these denominations, is it
auspicious ?). The Highest amount donated was Rs 5000 by a single person.
FESTIVALS AND
CELEBRATIONS.
This temple is an
abhimana sthala for the Sri Parthasarathi of Thiruvallikeni. Brahmotsavam in
Panguni, Rama Navami, Vaikunta Ekadasi, Andal Neerattam, Rapathu, Pakalpathu, and Krishna Jayanthi are celebrated in a grand manner.
TEMPLE TIMINGS:
The temple will be
kept open between 07.30 hrs to 11.30 hrs and 17.30 hrs to 20.30 hrs.
CONTACT DETAILS:
The temple office
landline number +914425290387 may be contacted for further details.
HOW TO REACH:
This temple is on Mulla Sahib Street, in the midst of Sowcarpet where the north Indian
population is more in this area.
The temple is about 3
KM from MGR Central Railway Station.
---OM SHIVAYA NAMA---
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