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Thiru maal irum sOlai - part 19 - History of Later day Rulers

From the Bhakti List Archives

Sampath Rengarajan • February 23, 1997 


Part 19

Thiru  maal  irum  sOlai - part 19 - History  of  Later  day
Rulers

In   1757  A.D.,  Haider  Ali  robbed  the  "kalyAna
mandapam"  here  and demolished the compound  walls.
General  Yusub Khan defeated Haider Ali  and  chased
him  away  to  dindigul  in 1758  and  returned  the
properties of this temple to the temple authorities.
He  also  sought and performed "parihAram" or  "papa
vimOchanam"  for the act conducted by  the  previous
looting  incident. In 1801 A.D.,  this  temple  came
under the jurisdiction of East India Company British
Rulers. District Collector "BuhArs" regularised  the
administration of the temple properties and provided
a moral support for the temple.

      Later  Sri  Krishna Deva rAyar who  started  a
"mammoth  effort" of building as many  as  "90  Raja
Gopurams all over south India srivaishnava temples",
had  to  leave some of them unfinished as  his  rule
came to an end. Those unfinished gOpurams are called
later as Raya gopuram or mottai goupurams thus named
after  him. Thanks to the effort of HIS HOLINESS  44
th  jeer,  the Raya gopuram of Srirangam  that   was
left  unfinished  by  Sri  Krishna  Deva  Rayar  was
completed  successfully. However it was Sri  Krishna
Deva  Rayar's period that the foundation  for  these
gopurams  were  laid  out  and  the  very  idea   to
construct   these   gopurams  were   conceived   and
initiated.  Thanks  to Sri Krishna  deva  Rayar,  on
behalf  of  all Srivaishnavas of this  day.  Not  to
mention that the foundation of Srirangam gopuram was
found to be very strong to withstand the tower of 13
stories  and  its weight when it was tested  by  the
modern  civil  engineers and Govt.  authorities  who
approved of such construction in 1980's. Coming back
to  Sri Krishna deva Rayar it was he who donated the
majority  of  the  lands that the  temple  currently
owns.  He had originally donated the nearby villages
of  samaya  nalloor  and saantha mangalam  for  this
temple. Our salute to sri krishna Deva raayar in line of
respecting adiyaar's adiyaar !



Sri   SridEvith  thaayaar  Sri  ANDAL  samEtha   Sri
kaLLazhagar   paramswami   sudara   raaja   perumaal
thriuvadikaLE saraNam
Sampath Rengarajan