I apologize in advance that this post is going to be pretty image heavy - there was just so much that we learned at the Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple (a huge Vishu temple complex) in Trichy (AKA Tiruchirappalli).
Vishnu is one of the three principle Gods in Hinduism: Brahma is the creator, Vishnu is the preserver/maintainer, and Shiva is the destroyer --- a cosmically balanced trinity or rather Trimurti.
Everywhere (on temple walls, on shop signs, etc) we saw these symbols of Vishnu, starting on the left: Garuda, Vishnu's ex-demon transport; the Sudarshana Chakra (a weapon in the form of a wheel); Vishnu's heel in white and Lakshmi's (his consort) heel in red; the Conch or Shankha, Vishnu's war trumpet; and Hanuman, the ever faithful servant of Ram (one of Vishnu's avatars, incarnations - but we'll get to this in a second)
The temple entrances were protected by yarlis an animal that was made from 5 (6) different animals. It has the feet of a vulture, the body of a lion, the teeth of a crocodile, the tail of a cow, the ears of a pig, and the eyes of a goat --- male yarlis are sometimes depicted as having elephant trunks as well. I was sad that I couldn't find any more documentation on this creature - but they were common features of all the Dravidian temples we saw in south India.
Hall of a thousand columns used during festival time to welcome the overwhelming number of pilgrims
We were told that this gopuram was painted white to recongize the sacrifice of those priests who protested a tax on the temple by committing suicide (during French control of Trichy, I believe)
Intricate stone work on a single piece of granite
Nine incarnations of Vishnu (sort of match evolution, from fish to man)
The concept of avatar within Hinduism is most often associated with Vishnu, the preserver or sustainer aspect of God within the Hindu Trinity orTrimurti or the one and only supreme God for followers of Vaishnavism.
Vishnu's avatars typically descend for a very specific purpose. An oft-quoted passage from the Bhagavad Gita describes the typical role of an avatar of Vishnu—to bring dharma, or righteousness, back to the social and cosmic order:
"Whenever righteousness wanes and unrighteousness increases I send myself forth.
For the protection of the good and for the destruction of evil,
and for the establishment of righteousness,
I come into being age after age."
There are ten avatars of Vishnu (dashavatara) commonly considered as the most prominent:[67]
- Matsya, the fish that kills Hayagriva and saves mankind.
- Kurma, the turtle that helps the Devas and Asuras churn the ocean for the nectar of immortality.
- Varaha, the boar that rescues the Earth and kills Hiranyaksha.
- Narasimha, the one (Lion) who defeats the demon Hiranyakashapu (Nhara = to assure the trouble, simha = takes control about).
- Vamana. the dwarf that grows into a giant to save the world from King Bali.
- Parashurama, A Sage, Rama with the axe, who appeared in the Treta Yuga.
- Rama, Sri Ramachandra, the prince and king of Ayodhya and killed Demon King Raavanan.
- Krishna (meaning 'dark coloured' or 'all attractive' or the Existence of Bliss,[68]), appeared in the Dwapara Yuga along with his brotherBalarama. Balarama is included as the eighth Dasavatara which list Krishna as the source of all avatars, svayam bhagavan (this viewpoint is specific to Bhagavata, Gaudiya, Vallabhacarya and Nimbarka sampradayas) .[69]
- Buddha, the enlightened one. (though this isn't widely accepted, many say that Balaram was the 9th)
- Kalki ("Eternity", or "timeless",destroyer of time or "The Destroyer of foulness"), who is expected to appear at the end of Kali Yuga, the time period in which we currently exist.
Tenth incarnation of Vishnu, when the world will end, to restart
Real life going on inside the temple walls
Srirangam temple is often listed as the largest functioning Hindu temple in the world (Angkor Wat being the largest non-functioning temple). The temple occupies an area of 156 acres (631,000 m²) with a perimeter of 4,116m (10,710 feet) making it the largest temple in India[2] and one of the largest religious complexes in the world. The temple is enclosed by 7 concentric walls (termed prakarams or mathil suvar) with a total length of 32,592 feet or over six miles. These walls are enclosed by 21 Gopurams. The space within the outer twoprakarams is occupied by several shops, restaurants and flower stalls. For this reason, other massive Hindu temples like Chidambaram(Nataraja swamy Temple), Tiruvannamalai (Annamalaiyar temple), Meenakshi Amman Temple, Tirunelveli Nellaiappar Temple claim to be the biggest Hindu temples (Note - all these magnificent temples are entirely dedicated for the religious rituals and are "massive" in every sense of the word - size, grandeur and the accompanying traditions).
Next we went to the Rock fort, which was home to both Shiva-Parvati temple and a Ganesh temple (the whole family!)
View of Rock fort in the distance
Beautiful views
From Trichy, we headed on to Tanjore... our next installment
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* I'm trying to keep up the alliteration theme. I'm on a ROLL!
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