Ż€ LV  D0BĦ  (Â{˘ € `†H†ĝ£ unnamed.txt¤  unnamed.txt­4(€V  €0€(€(Â{ €‚4 (B-A.F~In his posting on Dhanur Maasam, Sri Sadagopan described the five Sri Ranganathar Temples and mentioned that Srirangapatnam is the Aadi. It brought back lots of pleasant memories. During my preteen years the school I studied in Bangalore used to arrange excursion trips to Srirangapatnam, Shivasamudra, Talakkad etc. I do not think schools take children on field trips to temples these days! My memory is faint wrt these places. However I do remember the serene environment with the River Kaveri and the sangama of the three rivers. There are a few observations I would like to make regarding the five Ranganathar divya sthalams identified by Sri Sadagopan. Why is not Shivasamudram included in this list? The general statement that I have heard made is that Srirangapatnam is Aadi, Shivasamudram Ranganathar is madhyam and Srirangam Rangan is anthyam. For those of you who are interested, I have an article in Tamil written by Kannan Gopalan in Gyaana Bhoomi, about Srirangapatnam and specifically the reverence for River Kaveri. For the benefit of those who may not be able to read Tamil, I am providing below the translation summary. Please note that I do not have any sources to authenticate details of his story. However, the concept and the puranic references are interesting and informative. Begin Story India is blessed with sacred rivers which flow near and around many divya sthalams. In my (authorŽ˘s) opinion, Kaveri is the most sacred of all the rivers. The reason is even though Ganga and Yamuna flow along a long path, they do not split into two in any location unlike Kaveri which splits up into two in three different places. The three sacred locations where She splits into two are Srirangapatnam, Shivasamudram and Srirangam. The other great attribute for Kaveri is that human beings to get rid of their sins (paavams) take a dip in Ganga and burden her with a huge load of sins. Ganga prayed to Lord and asked Him how she could get rid of this heavy load. He replied if you take a dip in the month of Aipasee in River Kaveri, you will be rid of the paavams and you will be purified again. This proves the point that Kaveri is more sacred than any other river. Kaveri did not attain this great status easily. She attained this recognition through her devotion and prayers to Sriman Narayana. This happened 16 yugas back. Mother Kaveri was deeply engrossed in her prayers to SriRanganathar Perumaal lying down majestically on Adiseshan. Pleased by her sincere devotion to Him, Sriman Narayana appeared before her and gave her three boons. Accordingly Kaveri became more sacred (punitham) and famous (perumai) than Ganga, Srirangapatnam became a divya sthalam for many learned sages, and He himself stayed at Srirangapatnam to bless His devotees and made it a sacred place. Sri Mahalakshmi Herself wanted to see Her Lord Sri Ranganathar who had taken up to stay there lying down on Adiseshan. She took a dip in Kaveri and offered her respect to Sri Ranganathar and decided to stay near by Him as Ranganaayaki Thaayar. Recognizing the sacredness of this location, Brahma, Shiva and the Devas came and worshipped Sriman Narayana and built a temple for Sri Ranganathar Perumaal and Sri Ranganaayaki Thaayar. To ensure the proper worship is offered to the Divya Dampathis, Brahma taught Sage Narada the Paancharaatra Agamas. During Pralayam, this great temple worshipped by Brahma, Narada and Devas was submerged in deep sand. Obviously it could not remain in this condition for ever since Sriman Narayana had given a boon to Kaveri. He was waiting for the opportune time to rectify this situation. He decided to reveal Himself again to the devotees through Sage Gauthama. Let us now switch our vision to River Godavari. At the banks of this river, Sage Gauthama had his ashrams where he was instructing his students. About this time there was a terrible famine which prevented many rishis from performing their nitya anushtaanams. These rishis went out on the search for a place where they could camp and continue their activities. Along the way they came across Sage GauthamaŽ˘s ashram. Sage Gauthama recd them with open arms and offered them warm hospitality. He urged them to stay with him at the ashrams. To feed his guests, Sage Gauthama instructed his students to reap the rich and abundant paddy grains. The guests were well fed and a few of them became envious with the fact that the land was fertile and there was rich crops. They formulated a devious plan to take over the ashram by getting rid of Sage Gauthama. While he was away at the river, with their powers attained through penance, they created a cow and made it graze on the fertile paddy fields. On his return Sage Gauthama observed the cow destroying the crops and asked his students to chase the cow. When the students attempted to chase the cow away, it ran fast towards Sage Gauthama and dropped dead at his feet. The guest rishis accused Sage Gauthama for killing the cow. However, Sage Gauthama realized what had occurred through his powers and cursed the rishis because they had behaved contrary to what the Vedas prescribed and had misused their penance powers. After this incident, Sage Gauthama started on a pilgrimage to various Divya Sthalams. He came to Srirangam and offered his respect to Sri Ranganathar who appeared in front of the Sage and informed him that the place the sage was to perform his kainkaryam to Him was Srirangapatnam, the place for Aadi Rangan. Accordingly, Sage Gauthama left on the search for Srirangapatnam. Along the way he explained to other Rishis the greatness of Sri Ranganathar. At that time unexpectedly, great Maharishis like Bhodayana, Atthiri, Yagnavalkya, Kanva, Sukha, Parasara met him and along with him went towards Srirangapatnam. After their respects to Sri Ranganathar, they performed a great Yaga. Sri Ranganathar was pleased with their yaga and blessed them all. Sri Ranganathar looked at Sage Gauthama and informed him that He (Adi Rangan) was hidden under the big ant hill in the nearby Tulasi Grove. Accompanied by Brahma, Shiva, Devas, and Kaamadhenu, Sage Gauthama approached the grove and bowed their head in front of the ant hill. Kaamadhenu showered milk over the ant hill till the hill was washed away. Then they saw the Adi Rangan on Adisesha with Kaveri at Sri RanganatharŽ˘s feet paying her respects. This happened on a Saturday, Chitthirai maasam, Shuklapaksham, sapthami. Sage Gauthama and the others offered their respects to Vishvaksena, Garuda, Chakrath Azhwar and Sri Ranganaayaki Thaayaar. When Sage Gauthama requested Sage NaradaŽ˘s help to ensure proper kainkaryams are performed for the Divya Dampathis, Sage Narada narrated the incident ages back when he (Narada) was instructed in Pancharathra agama by Brahma and instructed that the nitya anushtaanams be performed accordingly. The great rishis who had come with Gauthama decided to stay back at that place. Because Ganga was releaved off her load in Aipasee, they requested Sri Ranganathar to give them Moksham in that month. Sri Ranganathar appeared before them and stated Whoever takes a dip in this sacred river on Aipasee, Krishna Paksham, Dasami will not only attain their wishes but also attain Moksham. In my nest posting, I will narrate incidents associated with this great temple. (If any of you can provide explanations to the references, I would be appreciate it Nagu Satyan