Ramanujacarya biography (short)
Sri Ramanujacarya (1017-1137)lived in Sri Rangam from around 1070 until he died. He travelled extensively, revitalised the tradition even further; restored and systematised the ceremonial worship in the temples sung about by the Alwars, and wrote nine philosophical works giving an enhanced theological foundation for this devotional tradition.

The temple of Sri Rangam is a magnificent creation with the tallest gate towers in Asia (257 feet) and seven concentric walls enclosing 155 acres of sacred space. It was attacked by Moguls in 1310 and 1323 and many brahmans were killed. Although the soldiers tried to smash the altar they were fooled by Vedanta Deshika who created a false one, walling in the actual deities.

Lord Ranganatha is Vishnu, who is also known as Narayana. He is depicted reclining on the serpent bed of Ananta Shesha, who is none other than Sankarshan or Balarama (whose full-moon appearance day it is today). The black deity was given as a gift to Vibhisana, the brother of Ravana, by Lord Rama. Ever since those days He has been worshipped here. Gradually the temple was built by successive kings and grew to have seven walls as each king made an architectural contribution.

There was a time, many hundreds of years ago, when the daily worship diminished and the jungle grew in towards the small existing temple, causing the pujaris to fear for tigers. Then the spirit of bhakti was rekindled and the wealth and support was found to develop the temple once again.

Lord Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu stayed here in 1510 for the four months of the rainy season. He stayed with one brahmana known as Vyenkatta Bhatta who had a son named Gopala. This young boy went on to become one of the famous Six Goswamis of Vrindavan: Gopala Bhatta Goswami. Lord Chaitanya felt such separation from Jagannatha that he carved his own set of Jagannatha deities and they are still there today, not far from the original home of the Bhatta family.

The tomb, or samadhi, of Ramanujacarya is also in a good sized shrine within the Sri Rangam temple compound, except that Ramanuja is not actually buried. He went into a trance in 1137 while sitting in the lotus position, and his preserved body is still sitting upright within a covering. It is still visible to all the pilgrims.

Ramanuja’s disciple and secretary, Koorathalwar, was always found at his master’s side. His samadhi is just outside the temple. I entered this temple and paid my respects. There are two black granite Narasimhas and a magnificent utsava-murti (festival deity) in bronze. The day I visited just happened to be a monthly time for abhisheka, the ritual bathing of the deity, so I sponsored it and watched as juices and milk were poured over the half-man, half-lion form. Afterwards I was given curd rice by the pujari who took me to his simple house nearby - built in the 1100s - and explained the difficulties he was having with the state of repair of the mediaeval temple. (Anyone who would like to help repair this temple please drop me a line)

Visiting Sri Rangam gave me some insight into the essential factors for developing and sustaining Vaishnava culture in any part of the world: Spiritual purity, knowledge from and devotion to the predecessor acaryas; determination; scholarship and intellectual strength; production of literature; dissemination and popularisation of the tradition; systematising and sustaining of temple worship and religious culture; support from leaders and thinkers; and protection from enemies.