Religion is so intrinsic to human history that when you travel to a new place, it seems kind of mandatory to go and visit some church or monastery or temple. Since I was raised Christian and I come from a Christian country, I feel that once I’ve visited one church, I’ve seen them all. I still end up visiting at least one church while in a new place, hoping to find something that will make it different. In that way I was able to find some…but I’m rambling too much and this post is not about Christian churches. It’s about Hindu temples (or “Kovil” in Tamil), and my first ever in India. The temple in question is the Sri Ranganathaswamy near Srirangam in the region of Tamil Nadu. But if you visit this temple, you haven’t visited them all. This one is unique.

Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple - Sculptures

I won’t be extremely detailed with the history of the temple since you can always check for yourselves by following the Wikipedia link below, but since it will be likely for you not to have internet connection while visiting it, I suggest you hire a guide. He will not only give you the essentials about the temple, but also some extra information that you won’t find on Wikipedia. We had a local friend who got us one. We had to pick him up around the temple, but if you ask around, it will be easy to find a guide, as most of them will be locals and live around the temple. This for a certain fee, of course, but nothing too expensive, especially if you go in a group.

Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple - Gopurams (towers)

Accessing the memory banks of what I’ve learned from our guided tour, the Sri Ranganathaswamy Kovil is a temple dedicated to Vishnu, one of the Hindu deities, who was also quite playful with the ladies (you’ll get the point later). On the day we were there, it was a new moon, so the temple was a bit more crowded than usual because it is during this period that people come to it to pray for their ancestors. The temple is enclosed by 7 concentric walls, but you cannot access the 3 inner ones, since its reserved for Hindus only, which is a pity. You can get a glimpse of the center from the rooftops, where you can see the central dome, that has a depiction of Vishnu in pure gold.  You will also see a lot of Gopurams (towers) – 21 in total, almost all very colorful and full of detailed sculptures of characters from Hindu mythology. These sculptures are retouched every 20 years, so some will have brighter colors than others. What you will probably notice the most, since it’s a temple dedicated to Vishnu, will be sculptures of all his women… Krishna’s women, that is. Krishna is one of Vishnu’s many incarnations. He was quite a Casanova and let’s just say he liked to play the game. In fact, supposedly, he was a bit of a voyeur who would sneak up on women while they were bathing on the river to steal their clothes – so said the guide, at least.

Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple - Vishnu's women

Another thing you will find is the temple’s elephant. Apparently, every temple has one elephant around, with the mark of the god the temple represents on its forehead. The elephant is a good luck charm and if you give it a coin, it will touch your head  with its trunk and bless you (with its snot – not really, but it’s trunk is a bit humid). The temple has around 20.000 priests but not all of them are practicing. They have other jobs like engineers, managers, bankers, etc. Most of them live around the temple on the island, which has a population of around 200.000 people, making 10% of the people clerics. You can only become a priest if you come from the right cast and if your direct ancestors were priests.

Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple - Temple's Elephant

A fun “game” you will find there consists of 5 holes on the floor at the end of a corridor that leads to a door. That door is the “Door to Heaven” which every pilgrim must pass through when he/she comes to the temple in order to end his pilgrimage journey. These holes are behind a corner that hides the “Door to Heaven,” the idea being that you have to put your fingers in the holes while crouching and trying to bend to the side to see it. It’s quite difficult, and that’s how it’s supposed to be. Moral of the story: to see heaven you have to work hard (and bend a lot).

Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple - White gopuram (tower)

I could go on and on about more stuff, like this gorumpa that is completely white (I think the only one) in order to pay homage to the lost soldiers in a war between Muslims and Hindus. And the depictions of Vishnu’s 22 avatars, the “hall of 100o pillars” (although according to Wikipedia there are only 953 – I didn’t count). And the fact that the place is a bit like a labyrinth, with small, seemingly randomly-placed altars where you can find priests performing short rituals and giving blessings. But, this was my experience, we want you to have your own.

Things to remember while there: be prepared to walk barefoot on very hot ground (having calluses will help). You can leave your shoes at the entrance, but don’t forget to tip the guy who keeps them when you go out, and be respectful about the signs. The temple is beautiful, full of spirituality, coming straight out of a National Geographic documentary. You will definitely come out of there full of life and positive energy, it just transpires that much.

Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple – Wikipedia

Map of Location – Google Maps

Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple – Flickr