Petition to Save Srirangam Periya Perumaal
From the Bhakti List Archives
• March 8, 2001
Dear Bhaktas, By now you have all read about the alarming news from Srirangam, where the sacred form of our holiest of holies, Lord Ranganatha Himself, is being fundamentally changed because of the whims of a few ignorant officials. You have read the impassioned pleas of several of our members for us to do something about this. Readers may recall that countless acharyas have dedicated their lives in the service of Lord Ranganatha. Sri Pillai Lokacharya gave his life in protection of Namperumaal, the utsava vigraha of Lord Ranganatha, and Sri Vedanta Desika narrowly escaped death while hastily safeguarding the treasures of our tradition. We have heard about how much these great saints our given. Now it is our turn. If there is anything I ask of you as members of the bhakti-list members, it is this: PLEASE write, send a telegram, or call (all three if possible) so we can restore Lord Ranganatha to His true glory. (Please prefix all numbers with 011-91-44 if calling from the U.S.) Contact: Dr. M. Karunanidhi Chief Minister, Tamil Nadu Phone: 5362345 (business), 8115225 (residence) Thiru S. Savarkar Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments 119, Nungambakkam High Road, Chennai 600 034 Phone: 8257183 (business), 4355597 (residence) FAX: 8273562 Suggested letter to be sent: Dear Respected: The Great Temple of Sri Ranganathaswami in SRIRANGAM (Tamil Nadu) is among the most ancient and largest edifices of cherished religious worship in the country. The Temple is presently and rather rapidly receiving massive 'restoration' and is to be made ready for the consecration ('samprokshanam') scheduled for March 15. Quite a few well-meaning officials of the Hindu Religious department of the government, besides temple functionaries, and philanthropists have been involved in this high-speed effort being carried out after 30 years. However, we have received some alarming reports of wholesale changes being made to the hallowed image of the Great Lord Ranganatha who resides within. This image is considered to be of utmost sanctity and has been described in detail by various poets and saints over the years. It is quite distressing that modifications that violate the spirit of the religious tradition are being made without involving the native cognoscenti and traditional guardians of the Temple. By this we mean the 'sthala-Acharyas' who have maintained and guarded and otherwise protected this jewel of our religious history and cultural evolution against various invaders and marauders over the years. Unfortunately, from what we understand, they have been sidelined in the ongoing renovation project, and some officials have decided to make changes based on their meagre knowledge of some Agamas, rather than consult the senior people who have been involved in previous such renovations and who have dedicated their life to the service of the Great Lord. It need not be repeated that the Great Temple of Srirangam is unique in many respects and, with its seven in-set enclosures, is the only one of the 'uttamottama' kind. This calls for the utmost care and sensitivity in renovation. The very idea that any modifications are to be made to the moola vigraha without consulting the traditional religious guardians certainly demonstrates disrespect not only to tradition, but to history and archaeology. Specifically, we have learned that the Sthapati in charge has reportedly denied the existence of the mini-image of Sri-Lakshmi inalienably and traditionally marking the chest of the huge image of the reclining Lord Sriranga. It is shocking that such an obvious and undeniable feature has been changed because of the whims of a modern sculptor. Aside from the memories of aged servitors of the Great Lord, we have the testimony of saints such as Sri Vedanta Desika of the 14th century, who has very clearly described the mark of Sri-Lakshmi adorning the sacred chest of the Lord. When such undeniable textual and testimonial evidence exists, how can we allow such a sacrilege to continue? The last repair-dressing of the image was carried out in 1959, and the Sthapati then commissioned had committed grave mistakes. The government has no doubt issued formal orders not to make any alterations during the current repair-dressing, but what guarantee attaches to such orders at all? The Sriranga Narayana Jeeyar, the Pontiff of the Temple, has the responsibility of keeping the vigil during the repairs, but how does a single individual keep up the watch over the work of eight hours a day? The Great Temple of Srirangam is the holiest-of-holies of the Sri Vaishnava religion. The worshipping public is highly distracted at the manner the restoration of the Lord's sacred image in the sanctum has been commissioned ON UNDISCLOSED AGENDA without executable safeguards and supervision. This amounts to trifling with the most sacred and beloved image of the Lord and trampling over the precious sensibilities evolved in the Sri Vaishnava religion over several, several centuries. As lovers of Tamil Nadu and of her great culture, which includes as a primary facet the Great Temple of Lord Ranganatha, we are anguished by this turn of events and respectfully demand that the image of the Lord be returned to its original form, as per the advice of the local guardians and historians of the temple. We ask that the Sthapati only proceed as guided by these devout and learned elders. Sincerely, -------------------------------------------------------------- - SrImate rAmAnujAya namaH - To Post a message, send it to: bhakti-list@yahoogroups.com Archives: <a href="http://ramanuja.org/sv/bhakti/archives/">http://ramanuja.org/sv/bhakti/archives/</a> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to <a href="http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/">http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/</a> </pre><br/><hr/><ul class="links" id="bhakti-list-message-links"> <li><strong>Next message:</strong> <a href="?p=mar2001%2F0055.html&anchor=">Diwakar Kannan: "Re: Petition to Save Srirangam Periya Perumaal"</a> </li><li><strong>Previous message:</strong> <a href="?p=mar2001%2F0053.html&anchor=">dharini98_at_aol.com: "RE: Sacrilege at SriRangam?"</a> <!-- nextthread="start" --> </li><li><strong>Next in thread:</strong> <a href="?p=mar2001%2F0055.html&anchor=">Diwakar Kannan: "Re: Petition to Save Srirangam Periya Perumaal"</a> </li><li><strong>Reply:</strong> <a href="?p=mar2001%2F0055.html&anchor=">Diwakar Kannan: "Re: Petition to Save Srirangam Periya Perumaal"</a> </li><li><strong>Maybe reply:</strong> <a href="?p=mar2001%2F0059.html&anchor=">dharini98_at_aol.com: "Re: Petition to Save Srirangam Periya Perumaal"</a> </li><li><strong>Maybe reply:</strong> <a href="?p=mar2001%2F0061.html&anchor=">madhav.vasudevan_at_sg.abb.com: "Re: Petition to Save Srirangam Periya Perumaal"</a> </li><li><strong>Maybe reply:</strong> <a href="?p=mar2001%2F0062.html&anchor=">BADRI NARAYANAN K.S /INFOTECH/CRP: "RE: Petition to Save Srirangam Periya Perumaal"</a> </li><li><strong>Maybe reply:</strong> <a href="?p=mar2001%2F0067.html&anchor=">Sheela Belur: "Re: Petition to Save Srirangam Periya Perumaal"</a> <!-- reply="end" --> </li><li><strong>Messages sorted by:</strong> <a href="?p=mar2001%2Fdate.html&anchor=54">[ date ]</a> <a href="?p=mar2001%2Findex.html&anchor=54">[ thread ]</a> <a href="?p=mar2001%2Fsubject.html&anchor=54">[ subject ]</a> <a href="?p=mar2001%2Fauthor.html&anchor=54">[ author ]</a> <a href="?p=mar2001%2Fattachment.html&anchor=">[ attachment ]</a> </li></ul> <footer id='sitefooter' > <hr /> <p class='vspace'>Visit <strong><a class='urllink' href='https://ramanuja.org' rel='nofollow' target='_blank'>ramanuja.org</a></strong> to read more articles. <br style='clear:both;' /> © 1994–2020 Contributors and ramanuja.org </p> <p class='vspace'><strong><a class='wikilink' href='https://ramanuja.org/sri/Site/ContactUs'>Contact Us</a></strong> </p> <div class='vspace'></div></footer><footer > </footer> </div> </main> </div><!--wikibody--> </div><!--wikimid--> <!--PageFooterFmt--> <footer id='wikifoot'> <div id="wikifoot-lastmod" class="lastmod">Page last modified on September 01, 2018, at 01:48 AM</div> </footer> <!--/PageFooterFmt--> <div id="wikioverlay"></div> </div><!--bodywrap--> <script type='text/javascript' src='https://ramanuja.org/pmwiki/pub/skins/pmwiki-responsive-mani/skin.js' async></script> <script type='text/javascript' src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.3.1/jquery.min.js" async></script> <!-- +1 begin --> <script type="text/javascript"> (function() { var po = document.createElement('script'); po.type = 'text/javascript'; po.async = true; po.src = 'https://apis.google.com/js/plusone.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(po, s); })(); </script> <!-- +1 end --> <!-- fb like begin --> <script> (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = "//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js#xfbml=1"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); </script> <!-- fb like end --> <!-- addthis --> <script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=ra-5b803030019f846f" async></script> <!-- end addthis --> <!--HTMLFooter--> </body> </html>