Sunday, July 24, 2011

Madhya ranga - Abode of reclining Vishnu



When  we were driving around a bend to reach the Shimsha falls, We read the board of Madhya ranga and  on our way back stopped  to see the temple. It is also called Sri Jaganmohana Ranganatha temple. A pretty huge temple, Simple but very divine. The villagers told us the priest had gone to a nearby  place for the wedding and so the sanctum was closed. I walked to the huge wooden double door and found their was a   peep hole for darshan. I peeped through to find the divine lord clad in dhoti and garlands, absolutely stunning through the filtering light  of the oil lit lamps.  There are very few idols which can send such vibrations. This was one such. The image and calmness is finely embedded in my memory, that it is flashing every now and then.

Devout  Hindus travelling towards Mysore can mark this place called 'Madhya Ranga' at Shivanasamudram.

The 3 major riverine Islands formed by River cauvery are Srirangapattina, Shivanasamudram and Srirangam. Apart from having historical significance and natural beauty, these 3 islands are also major pilgrim centres.

All the 3 Islands have a temple dedicated to Lord  Vishnu popularly called as Sri Ranganatha. The reclining pose of Vishnu on the multiheaded serpent Adisesha is called Sri Ranganatha and his consort Lakshmi is called Ranganayaki. 

Sri Rangapattina is called Adi ranga (the first one)
Shivanasamudram is called Madhyaranga ( the middle one)
Sri rangam is called Antya ranga (the last one).

Of all these Srirangapattina and Sri Rangam are famous but  not much is known about Madhya ranga. This is supposed to be a 1500 year old temple built by the cholas, who were known for unique architecture  and the idol is made of  black fossil stone( saliigrama). A legend goes that Sri Hari gave darshan to Lord Indra here. The Idol is also small compared to adi and antya ranga, . Visiting all the 3 Rangakshetras ( adi, madhya and antya) between suryoday(dawn) to suryasth( dusk) is considered auspicious and  called Brahmanda darshan or triranga darshan. The belief of devouts is that this darshan washes away your sins and gives peace and plenty.

A tidbit: All of us know that the Pilgrim center SriRangapattina was the capital of Tipusultan, The ruler of Mysore who gave the British nightmares but very few of us know that he was a devotee of Sri Ranganatha. He is supposed to have had conversations with the Lord. He also rose to the morning chants of ' O Ranga' . My parents 80+ old neighbour @ bangalore  told me that there was a 'Sri Ranga' temple beside all Tipu's palace.  There is one at Bangalore city market too. Besides Tipu's wooden summer palace is a Fort temple dedicated to Vishnu.

Interested, may check a video on Madhyaranga here.

11 comments:

  1. Thanks Asha, I didn't have any information about madhya Ranga. But how can one vist all the three in one day.

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  2. during dhanur masam, the temple at srirangapattina is open at 4.30.a.m. adi and madhya ranga are close by. It is possible when you hire a car, but i wonder how it was practical in olden days when there was only bullock carts. may be this is a recent faith.

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  3. Lovely and beautiful temple.. I am not very religious but i do like to visit holy places jsut to see them ..

    Bikram's

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  4. I too am not very religious or ritualisitc but I have faith in god and love to visit historical temples like this :)

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  5. I have only visited Srirangam and not the other two. Thanks for sharing!

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  6. Triranga Darshanam
    Date: 18-02-2012
    Attendees: Venkatesh P, Ramalakshmi P, Venugopal P, Sudhakar P, Master Chandu Srivathsa and Prabhu(drove the car)
    Vehicle: Tata Indica
    Route Map to Triranga Darshanam:


    A: Srirangapattana, Karnataka
    B: Bannur, Karnataka
    C: Malavalli, Karnataka
    D: Kollegala Main Rd, Malavalli, Karnataka
    E: Madhyarangam Temple, Barachukki Falls Road, Chamarajnagar, Karnataka
    F: Chamrajnagar, Karnataka
    G: Bannari Amman Temple, NH 209, Erode, Tamil Nadu
    H: Satyamangalam, तमिल नाडु
    I: Erode Junction Railway Station, Erode, Tamil Nadu
    J: Karur Railway Station, Karur, Tamil Nadu
    K: Srirangam, Thiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu

    Important: We took the longest route above yet we reached the temple on time. This was possible only with the Lord’s grace. We had a superb driver who drove at 85kms and above consistently without compromising on safety.
    Note: Temple timings are very important. The first temple ( Srirangapatna) opens at 7:30am every day except for Fridays(opens at 6am) and Dhanur Maasam.

    Itinerary:

    Aadi Ranga:
    We reached Srirangapatna at 4am. We finished Magha snanam(bathing in river during Magha Masam) in the river Cauvery at Triveni Sangam and proceeded towards Sri Ranganatha Swamy temple at Srirangapatna. We were at temple door at 5am.
    To our surprise, the temple main door had a board displaying that the temple opens at 7:30am on all days except Fridays (6:00am). I also found out that the temple opens around 4:30am during Dhanur Maasam. There were 5 other groups of devotees waiting at the temple door hoping that the temple opens before 7:30am. I did strike a conversation with a few members in the group and it was clear that all of them were worried about making darshanam in a day’s time because of the delay in the first temple darshanam. This made a dent on everyone’s hopes of making the trip in a day’s time.
    The temple opened at 7:30am sharp and the darshanam of the Lord was nothing less than a feast to our eyes. We could not afford to spend an hour or more in the temple so we left the temple premises at 8am to Madhya Ranga.

    Madhya Ranga:
    We reached Madhya Ranga at 9:25am. When we arrived at Madhya Ranga, the temple was locked by the priest as there were no devotees that day. The priest stays close by (within a sighting distance from the temple) and we had to take flower sellers’ help to have him come back and open the temple for us and the other devotees who were trailing us. By the time we finished the darshanam at Madhya Ranga, the other groups arrived at the temple. We exchanged smiles and wished each other for proper completion of Triranga darshanam. We left the temple premises at 9:50am. We had lunch packed from home and took an hour’s break in the middle of Sathyamangala forest. We took another break of 30 minutess on reaching Tamil Nadu border. While the driver went to get the permit, we walked to Bannari Amman temple a few meters away from there.

    Anthya Ranga:
    We reached Srirangam at 5:30pm and took Thayaar’s darshanam within the temple. By the time we went to the take the Lord’s darshanam, the door to the Lord’s darshanam was closed. On enquiring we found out that the darshanam would resume at 7pm again. There was a lot of crowd as it was Ekadashi. We waited in the queue and had a fantabulous darshanam(a treat to the eyes!!) of the Lord Sri Ranganatha sleeping on Adishesha.
    After the darshanam, we had a Prasadam sold at the temple counter and relaxed thanking the Lord for facilitating this darshanam. We left the temple premises at 9pm to reach home.
    Om Sri Ranganathaaya Namah! Om Namo Narayanaaya! Om Namo Venkateshaaya!

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  7. Hello Asha,

    I am Usha writing an article about Madhya Ranga temple Shivasamudram .I have a couple of queries. Hope you can answer them when you are free.
    I wanted to know if there are any lunch facilities in
    the temple for travelers.
    Also any contact numbers to talk with temple. I got the
    address from vishnutemples.net but contact numbers are not available.
    Also are there any rest rooms for elders providing water and
    toilet facility?

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  8. Usha, enroute shivanasamudram it was by chance we found this temple. When we went to the temple the main door was open, but the sanctum was closed. The temple is maintained by the priest, he was away to attend a wedding said the villagers. So no clue about all the things that you have asked.

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  9. IT is a huge temple though with praharams where you can rest under the shade of a tree.

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  10. We have visited all the three Sri Ranganatha Swamy temples separately. Planning to visit all three on the same day. Lets see how we make it.

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