Known as the FIRST of the Sri Vaishnava Dhivya desas and addressed with the special names of  KOVIL , Peria Kovil, Heaven on Earth (Bhooloka Vaikuntam). Self formed (Swayam Vyaktha ) Deity and location ( Kshethram / Sthalam). This Temple town is located 5Kms. North of Trichy in between Cauvery and Kollidam rivers, in the Tamil Nadu State. It is located 1Km. from Srirangam railway station. Also one can go by Town bus  from Trichy and get down at  the Southern Temple tower entrance.

Moolavar: SRI LORD RANGANATHA PERUMAL in reclining posture ( Bhujanga Sayanam), on AadhiSeshan faces South and gives Dharshan to the devotees.
Uthsavar: NamPerumaal, Azhagiya Manavaalan
Thaayaar: Sri Ranga Nachiar, in separate Sannidhi
Prathyasham ( Physically gave Dharshan to ): Dharma varma, Ravi dharman, Chandhran and Vibeeshanan.

The Temple premises is formed on 3072 X 2520 feet (length and breadth) of land, has 7 Compounds or Praakaarams (namely, 7th :Sri Chithirai street or Raja street or Sri Car street , 6th : Puvar Lokam Thiruvikraman Praakaaram, 5th : Swar Lokam - Agalangan Praakaaram, 4th : Mahar Lokam - Aali naadan Praakaaram, 3rd : Jano Lokam - Kula sekaran Praakaaram, 2nd : Thapo Lokam - Raja mahendran Praakaaram, 1st: Sathya Lokam - Dharma Varma Praakaaram) & 21 Temple towers; the Sanctum Sanctorum measures 240 X 180 feet (length & breadth) and the South Temple tower (Raja Gopuram) is 236 feet tall.

This Great Holy Shrine’s history dates back  to ancient times and goes thus:
Ishvaagu, Son of Manu of Surya Kula, Prayed Brahma & obtained Lord Naaraayanaa’s Thiruvaaraadhana Vigraha which  Brahma himself was worshipping; he brought the same to Ayodhyaa and he as also all other King’s of that Dynasty upto Lord RAmapiran were offering Pooja and Prayers to this Deity; when Vibeeshanaa was leaving for Lanka after RAma’s coronation as King, RAmaa gave this Deity to him because of the great affection he had for VibEshanA; While VibEshanA was passing over Cauvery  near Srirangam he felt tired and landed there for  rest; after  some time when he was starting, he tried to lift the  deity & couldn’t do it; the King of that place at that time, Dharma varma, consoled VibEshanA who started to stay there itself; the Lord appeared in the dream of VibEshanA,  told him that he would like to stay where he was (to fulfil the genuine desire of Dharma varma who when he visited Ayodhya on an occasion, upon seeing  the great Deity,  wished how blessed he and his place would be, to have the Lord at his country ), to not to worry and that he should go to Lanka;the Lord  also promised him that he would always be looking in the direction of his country (Lanka). Besides  the Lord was also fulfilling a promise he had made to Cauvery  upon being pleased with her penance, that she would get a greater importance than the Ganga ( who had become very egoistic upon being known as the holy River and slighted other rivers which resulted in  Cauvery’s appeal thro’ very rigorous penance to the Lord, to help her decorate  him suitably to become more valuable than Ganga)  by allowing  her to garland his Bhooloka Vaikundam ( which Srirangam  island is known as).
Later Dharma varma built a small Temple around the Sriranga Vimaana; with the passage of time the Temple had got covered up by sand; another King of the Dharmavarma descendancy, while on a hunting mission in the forests (which he used to go alone for, at times ) encountered a tiger and was shocked to notice that he had come for hunting, totally forgetting the weapons required; as the tiger also had spotted them by then and the horse was reacting with scare, he saw a miracle happen; the tiger bowed in his direction and disappeared in a flash; the horse took to heels and after some time stopped under a tree over a sand mound, requiring rest;  while the King was feeling  that there was some thing extraordinary happening, he heard a parrot sitting on the tree repeating the following verses:
Kaveri Virajaa seyam, Vaikuntham Rangamandiram
Sa Vasudeva Rangesah, pratyaksham paramam padam
Vimanam pranavakaram, veda srungam mahadbhutam
Sriranga sayi Bhagavan, pranavartha prakasakah.
( Meaning: The river Cauvery is verily the Viraja in Vaikuntham; the SriRangam Temple is  the Vaikuntham itself; Lord Rangesah is none else but Vasudeva himself and this is indeed God’s eternal abode.)
He ( hence forth known as Kili Chozha as he got this bhagya or great chance because of a parrot, known as Kili in Tamil ) went back to his place, came back to that spot with required resources and upon excavating  the place, found the Vimana intact; filled with joy he renovated the Temple  restoring its full former glory. The Kili Mandapam which signifies this aspect is located in the 2nd Praakaaram.

Specials ( Visesh ): Out of the EIGHT Swayam Vyaktha Kshethras This is considered to be the foremost, the other Seven being Sri Mushnam ( Bhoovaraaha Perumaal with Goddess Ambujavalli Thaayar), Thirumalai known as ThiruVenkadam and Thirupathi      ( Lord Srinivasa -  Baalaaji – Ezhumalayaan - Venkatesan – Govindan with Goddess Alarmel mangai Thaayaar – Padmavathi Thaayaar Blessing from Thiruchanur), Thiru Saalagraamam –Mukthi Naath ( Lord Sri Moorthy – Mukthi Naaraayan with Goddess Sri Dhevi ), NaimiCharanyam ( Lord Dhevarajan – Sri Hari with Goddess Sri Hari Lakshmi ),  ThothAthiri - Thirucheerivaramangai -Vanamamalai  ( Sri VanamAmalai Perumal-Thothadrinathan and Cheerivaramangaithayar ), Pushkar ( Lord ParamaPurusha with Goddess Pundareekavalli) and  Badhrinath ( Lord Badhri Naaraayana with Goddess Aravindavalli ).

All Azhwars and AndAl -  ( the Tamil Saints who have sung a total of 4000 Hymns on the various 108 Dhivya Dhesams – Known as 4000Dhivya Prabhandhams, also mentioned as Dhravida Vedham ) have sung a total of 247Hymns on Lord Ranganatha, the maximum on any Single Dhivya Dhesa Deity. Thondaradi Podi Azhawar did Nandhavana – floral offering work (Kaingaryam) and ThiruMangai Azhwar did the building of Holy Compound Wall Kaingaryam.

Thiruppaan Aazhwaar of BAnar Kulam( who couldn’t enter the Temple in those days ) was brought inside the Temple by Loka Saarangar on Lord’s directive, offered 10 Paasurams Known as Amalan Aadhi Piraan and merged with the Lord.

Choodi koduthe sudar kodi AndAl who was clear in expressing that she will marry Lord Ranganatha only, was brought to Sri Rangam with all mariaadhas (respects) on the directive of the Lord (in the dream of Kaingaryaparas of the temple) , and while every body was watching she went into the Garbagruha and merged with the Lord.

SrimannNAdhamunigal – the First in the Aachaarya Parampara and the MahAn who restored the Glorious 4000Dhivya Prabhandaham Hymns for the welfare of mankind – introduced here the  “Arayar Seva”, the method of singing the Dhivya Prabhandham with Raag(a)s and Thaal(a)s, which is a treat to watch and hear.

 Aachaaryaas after Sri RAmAnuja, namely RAmAnujar AzhwAn AndAn, EmbAr Bhattar, Swami desikan, Pillai LogAchAryAr also have done MangalA SAsanam to the Lord.

"Padukasahasram" of Swami Nihamanta Maha Desikan was written by Swami Desikan in a competition in a matter of 3 hours, has 1008 hymns in praise of the Divine sandals of Lord SriRanganathan.

Also, Swami Desikan revived the Arayar Sevai after the Muslim invasion of
south India in the 12/13th century. Desikar also  won the arguments in favour of the recitation of Divyaprabandham during the Pagal Patthu and Raa Patthu utsavams and he even established that these were nothing but Vedas and upanishads re-written in Tamil.  The inscriptions (Kal vettugal) are found in the temple to this effect.

With the Great effort of 44th Pontiff (Jeeyar) of Ahobila mutt, the RAja Gopuram which was an incomplete structure, was completed as the Temple Tower of 236 feet height      ( the tallest Temple Tower on the Earth ) with 13 Levels and  13 Khalasas.
Lord Sri Narasimha Murthy who endorsed Kamba Ramayana during its maiden presentation, by nodding the head, is residing in the Temple in a Sannidhi in the name of  Lord mEttazhagiya Singar, near the Sannidhi of Goddess RanganAyaki. Also there is a separate Sannidhi for Lord Sri Dhanvandhiri ( known as the doctor Lord), which is unique.

Also some of the separate Sannidhis to be Prayed at are of    Lord Sri Raama,             Sri Chakkarathazhwar, Sri Udayavar , Each of the Aazhwrs, Sri Swami Desikan, 20 feet Moolasthaana Garudaazhwar.
 
Over Moolavar Lord RangA’s Garbha gruham ( Sanctum Sanctorum ) is the Golden VimAnam  to the south of which is located ParaVAudeva’s Golden Idol and both are offered prayers  while coming out after having the Dharshan of the Moolavar.

Bhagvad RAmAnuja stayed at this Kshethram for a long time and Administered the Temple matters and set the codes for  Lord’s Dress, Prasadham procedures during festivities and the singing of Hymns in Tamil and Grew Vaishnavism. His Physical body – Thiru mEni -. is there at the Vasantha Mandapam, even to-day

It is told that if one has visited this Dhivya Swayam Vyaktha Kshethram, even if it is not possible for some reasons beyond ones control to visit the other Holy Shrines, that person shall not have the fear of death and will reach the Moksham (the eternal bliss ).

Sri Rangam has choultries, RAmAnuja halls, hotels for food; also delicious prasadhams are available on sale at the Temple.

If one is desirous of making any life time Endowment they can contact the Temple office as a number of properly formulated schemes are available ; for certain types of endowments ( Nithya Aaradhana Kattalai ) wherein part of the specified day’s Pooja expenditures are met thro’ the income from this amount, devotee and family  can have an assured Dharshan of all Poojas on that full day, every year.
( Temple administration office tel. No. 0091 – 431 – 2432246 ).For any additional details kindly refer to the site www.srirangam.org