Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple, Srirangam

Srirangam's sanctity is ancient. The temple is praised in 247 of the 4,000 verses of the Naalayira Divya Prabandham, the hymns of the Alvar poet-saints composed between roughly the 6th and 9th centuries; the temple's HR&CE history notes that ten Alvars sang of it, more than for any other shrine. Tradition, recorded in the temple's own history, says that after a flood of the Kaveri buried the sanctum, an early Chola king, remembered as Kili Cholan or Killivalavan, rediscovered it when a parrot led him to the spot, and rebuilt the shrine.

The temple's inscriptions, numbering well over 600 and written in six languages, run from the late 9th to the 16th century and record the gifts of the Cholas, Pandyas, Hoysalas and Vijayanagara rulers. In the 11th–12th centuries the great teacher Ramanujacharya (traditionally 1017–1137) made Srirangam his home. He reorganised the temple's worship and administration, and the HR&CE history notes that the system he established is still followed. Srirangam became the centre of Sri Vaishnava learning, home to later teachers such as Pillai Lokacharya and Vedanta Desika.

The early 14th century brought disaster. Malik Kafur's campaign of 1310–11 plundered the region, and during the invasions of the 1320s by the Delhi Sultanate forces of the Tughluqs the temple was sacked. Tradition holds that some 12,000–13,000 devotees died defending it. The processional image of Ranganatha (Namperumal) was carried away for safety and, as TTD's own history records, kept at Tirumala for decades. After Vijayanagara forces under Kumara Kampana overcame the Madurai Sultanate, the temple was restored and the image reinstalled, a return traditionally dated to 1371.

Under the Vijayanagara emperors and the Nayaks of Madurai, Srirangam grew to its present size. Many of its finest halls date from this period: the Thousand-Pillared Hall of the Vijayanagara era, the Sesharaya (Sesha) Mandapam with its rearing horses, the Garuda Mandapam and the 17th-century Kili Mandapam. A 1674 inscription records the rebuilding of the Venugopala shrine under Chokkanatha Nayak. In the 18th century the fortified temple town was caught up in the Carnatic wars between the French, the British and their allies.

The southern Rajagopuram, begun under Vijayanagara rule about five centuries ago, stood unfinished until the Ahobila Matham resumed work on 20 May 1979; completed with devotees' donations, it was consecrated on 25 March 1987. A Mahasamprokshanam (reconsecration) after major renovation was held in 2015, and in 2017 the temple's conservation work won a UNESCO Asia-Pacific Award of Merit, the first for a temple in Tamil Nadu. The temple is administered by the HR&CE Department of the Government of Tamil Nadu.

Srirangam represents the Dravida temple at its most expansive: a temple that has grown outward over a thousand years into a walled town. Seven concentric rectangular enclosures (prakarams), their walls running to nearly 10 km in total, surround the sanctum; the outer three contain streets of houses, shops and mathas, while the inner four form the temple proper. The complex covers about 156 acres according to the HR&CE Department, with 21 gopurams, dozens of sub-shrines, many mandapams and water tanks, including the Chandra and Surya Pushkarinis.

The southern Rajagopuram, the main entrance, rises 236 ft (about 73 m) in 13 tiers topped by 13 kalashas; the HR&CE Department calls it the tallest temple tower in Asia. Its granite base and lower storey date from the Vijayanagara period, while the upper tiers were completed between 1979 and 1987. Further gateways line the north-south axis to the sanctum, and the Vellai (white) Gopuram on the east side of the fourth enclosure, about 44 m high, is notable for its plain white finish.

At the centre, the sanctum houses Ranganatha reclining on the coils of Adisesha, facing south, with Sridevi and Bhudevi; the image is held to be svayambhu (self-manifested). Over it rises the golden Pranavakara Vimanam, its curved form recalling the syllable Om, with an image of Paravasudeva on its face. Separate shrines are dedicated to the goddess Ranganayaki, who by tradition never leaves her shrine, as well as to Chakkarathalvar (Sudarshana), Venugopala, Dhanvantari, Ramanuja and many others.

The mandapams are among the finest of the Vijayanagara and Nayak periods. The Sesharaya Mandapam is famous for its pillars carved as rearing horses with riders, hunting scenes and yalis, all cut in granite. The Thousand-Pillared Hall, in the fourth enclosure, is used during the Vaikunta Ekadasi festival. The Garuda Mandapam has a great seated Garuda facing the sanctum, and the Venugopala shrine carries some of the most delicate female figure sculpture in Tamil Nadu. Ceilings in several halls retain painted murals.