Story of Sri Ranganathar and Ucchi Pillayar

One of the most important temples on the banks of Kaveri is Sri Ranganatha Temple is in Srirangam, Tamil Nadu. It has a very interesting story linked to its evolution. As a part of Lord Rama’s coronation ceremony in Ayodhya, he gave away lavish gifts to all the attendees. Vibhishana who had abandoned his brother and surrendered to Rama without any expectation also was ready to leave to Lanka, when Rama called him and gave him a special gift. He gifted Vibhishana with the idol of Ranganatha which was also the family deity of Ikshvaku dynasty and considered as family wealth of the dynasty.

Vibhishana was overwhelmed on receiving such a valuable gift which was planning to establish in Lanka, his kingdom. However, Lord Ganesha was not of the opinion of letting Sri Ranganatha’s idol leaving India and he nicely executed his plan of retaining the idol at the banks of Kaveri, Tamilnadu and Bharat. He used Rama’s warning to Vibhishana to his favour. Rama had warned Vibhishana that the idol and Vimana should not be placed anywhere on the ground and that they should be carried directly to Lanka, failing which the idol and the vimana would get established at the first place he places them on the groud.

Lord Ganesha volunteered to hold the idol for Vibhishana, when he was filled with the desire of taking holy bath in the mighty River Kaveri, at the condition that in case Lord Ganesha no longer is able to hold the idol, he would call for Vibhishana three times for him to come and take the idol.

With Vibhishana agreeing to the condition, he handed over the idol to Lord Ganesha and proceeded to fulfill his desire. Lord Ganesha waited for the right opportunity and when Vibhishana had gone far into the kaveri swimming, Vinayaka called out thrice in quick succession. With Vibhishana failing to reach Lord Ganesha at the call of three, he placed the idol with vimana on the ground. As Lord had already warned, the idol with the vimana got firmly established there (which is now the Sri Ranganathar temple at Sri Rangam).

Vibhshana on return was angered for having lost the opportunity of taking Sri Ranganathar with himself to Lanka and in his outburst, he chased  Lord Ganesha to hurt him. Lord Ganesha played along and ran till he reached the top of the current Rock Fort Hill and sat waiting for Vibhishana. On reaching the top of the hill, exhausted Vibhishana gave a sharp knock on the head of Lord Ganesha as a vent to his frustration and Lord Ganesha revealed his true form. On realizing his error, he immediately apologized to Lord Ganesha. The Lord immediately forgave him and let him know that he received his great gift from Lord Rama as a reward for his genuine sacrifice with no desires. But, he lost the idol once the materialistic desires  (of taking a dip in the beautiful River Kaveri) took over him and seemed more important than taking Lord Ranganathar to Lanka without any stoppage.

However, as a consolation to the work executed by Vibhishana in carrying the Lord’s idol from Ayodhya to Srirangam, he had established the Lord’s idol facing Lanka and gracing it with his blessings. There seems to be dual meaning to the name “Ranganathar” (deity’s name). Arangam in tamil means a stage. One school of thought claims that since we are puppets in the hands of God for him this world is a stage, the deity has been named Sri Aranganathar and other school of thoughts says that a drama was conducted with Vibhishana as a puppet to establish this deity in South which was originally in Ayodhya (North India).

The place in which the Ranganathan deity was kept was later covered in deep forests, due to disuse and after a very long time, it was discovered when a Chola king chasing a parrot found the deity accidentally. He then established the Ranganathaswamy temple, Srirangam as one of the largest temple complexes in the world. Meanwhile, the Pallavas built the Vinayaka temple and the Thayumanaswamy temple, in the rock which Vinayaka used to escape Vibishana.

Reference – Compilation from Various religious stories and publications by different authorities (printed and website)