Srirangam.

This is a island town in the river Kaveri. It was the capital city of Hyderali and Tipu Sultan. Hyder ali had helped in the construction of the Ranganatha Swami temple though he was a muslim. The city also has remains of a large fort.

The Ranganatha Swami temple dates back to the 10th century. Presiding in is a black stone deity of Visnu reclining on Adi Sesa. Gautama Risi and river godess kaveri are at His feet.

His consort Ranganayaki and a deity of Gopala Krsna are in the west shrine. There are also shrines dedicated to Ramanujacarya, Desikar and other Alwars. Sri Ranagnatha is said to have been worshiped by Agastya Muni.

The Deity of Sri Ranganatha dates back to Threta Yuga. After the death of Ravana, Lord Rama gave this Deity to Vibhisana. While Vibhisana was passing through the Kaveri River, the Lord desired to stay in that beautiful place.

By this arrangement, Vibhisana felt very tired and placed the Deity down. When Vibhisana wanted to resume the journey, he was unable to lift the Deity. He wept and wailed, but in vain. Finally he accepted the desire of the Lord and went back to Sri Lanka. To please Vibhisana, the Deity lies facing Sri Lanka.

This temple is also called the "PERIAKOIL" which means Big Temple as it has the fame of having the biggest forms of Gopuram, Mandapam, Deity, Garuda etc One of the pastimes of the Lord which shows His love for His devotees is narrated by the following story :

Once, a sage named Loka Saranya Muni was on his way to perform abhiseka to Sri Ranganathan. En-route Thirupaanalwar, (one of the 12 Alwars) immersed in the beauty of the Lord did not give way to the sage.

Becoming furious on this issue, the sage hit the Alwar with a stone on his head and went to the Deity. To his dismay he found that Deity of Lord Ranganatha was also bleeding. Feeling sad, he returned home.

In his dream the Lord ordered the sage to carry the Alwar on his shoulder to the temple. Feeling happy on this context, the Alwar showed his gratitude by composing 10 songs on Sri Ranganatha. This temple has 7 walls each of which depicts one planetary system each.