I wonder how many people who visit the gigantic temple at Thiruvarangam, the first of the 108 Divyadesas and the very heart of the ShriVaishnava cult, know that the lord of the temple, Sri Aranganathan, got married to a muslim princess out of her love for him. And still fewer do actually know the tide of events that lead to this divine union and the series of interesting events that followed it. Here I lay forward the story of this strange marriage, a story that spans over sixty years, a story that transcends all religions to prove once again that God is indeed one.
It was a time when the atrocities of the Muslim inveders were reaching new heights. Their hatred for idol worship made the hindus tremble, not in fear for their lives, but in fear of the possible damages that the holy idols in their hallowed temples would suffer. Drastic measures were made to save the idols from disrespect. The ruthless Muslims, used to destroy the idols and if that was not possible, deface them. The smaller utsavar idols made of the expensive Panchaloha were carried off in large heaps to Delhi, to be melted into new ornaments. The priests did their very best to cover the sanctum with bricks and send the smaller idols for safekeeping with trusted families. The Muslim forces however, kept driving further south in conquest.
So huge was Sri Rangam that Malik Kafur took days going around the Prakarams, plundering the people. The inner temple,was fiercely protected by the staunch vaishnavas, who refused to let the muslims defile their holiest shrine. They held out the army for three days, time sufficient enough to build a wall in front of the main sannidhi and to hide out the reclining god. The priests even managed to bury the utsavar of Ranganayaki under a neem tree, but alas, before they could save the utsavar of Ranganathar, the army broke in. They killed every one in sight, took the utsavar and marched back to Delhi.
Back at Srirangam however, Surathani searched all over for the idol. Not finding it, she gave up her life before the very doors of the sanctum. Seeing this, Malik Kafur was so enraged that he ordered every Vaishnava to be killed. A bloody war followed in which close to 13000 Vaishnavas lost their life. The beautiful Devadasis of the temple, finally,managed to seduce the army generals and sent them back home.
The temple somehow survived the catastrophe. But a lot of things were not in order. The utsavar was not with them and the temple festivities had to go on. The head priests, then secretly ordered for another identical utsavar to be made and installed it, saying that this indeed was the original one.
Raghav, many versions of the story exist. The one I wrote was what I heard through word of mouth. I totally accept your point of view and the authority of the sacred literatures that you have mentioned. Thank you for the eye opener. I would be glad to know more details.
Good work, By the way, what made you write about thulukka naachiar. I was looking for this for long and at last i got it. The sketch is very good. I guess i can get more info from Thiruvaranga ula, as i have heard about that from others too.
Thank you very much
I read that there is a Sri Rangantha temple south indian temple in Mathura, also very ancient. No written history about this temple is available online. Wonder if this was connected to the above story!
The king who followed her with his army was a second too late. He witnessed with own his two eyes that the his daughter out of unbearable viraham (separation) went running to embrace the deity and just disappeared/merged into the deity itself !!
The story you tell is related to a second famous Vaishnava Sthala called Thirunarayanapuram. I have written a blog entry on the Thulukka Naachiyaar there too. Anyways, I have done a more detailed writeup here -of-thulukka-naachiyaar-melkote.html and
-of-thulukka-naachiyaar-sri-rangam.html
FAKE STORY DEAR. THULLUKKA NACHIYAR IS THE SISTER OF RAJARAJA CHOLAN SHE CONVERTED AS A MUSLIM AND LIVED WITH SUFI SHIRINE NATHAR WALI IN TRICHY AND SHE DIED AND BURRIED IN NATHAR WALI THARHA PLEASE GO AND SEE THERE.
rajaraja chola had only one sister whose name was Kundavai who married vandiyadevan. it is a historical fact and it is mentioned in Tanjore inscriptions. They are staunch saivaites. where is the proof that Kundavai converted to Islam?
Most fascinating. Unfortunate that that our temples were looted. But I wondered why the Almighty kept quiet when all this happened? Id it to bring out the true love of a muslim girl? Or is it as Ramakrishna paramahamsa said about Somnathpur, that the Lord wanted to liberate himself from silver and gold?
I went to Srirangam to see the Renganathar and also Thulukka Naachiar, but there is no way to reach Thulukka Naachiar . The shrine is locked and protected by roped. I really felt ashamed of Internet bogus news. Even for
Renganathar Rs.250/- queue, those gentle men take one hour to issue ticket. The queue was idle for more than 45 minutes, No issue of tickets.
Why ??????????
The Lord Vishnu reclined in the bed of Adishesha( serpent ) is magnificent to see at Srirangam . The Urchavar deity is corroded may be due to contact with earth for long time . In the prime story the idol was always with some one and cared cannot be true . The corroded deity was found in the forest of Tirupathi is more probable . It may be of interest to some readers that the black object in the Milky way Galaxy from which 800 billion stars including our Sun and planet earth came out in 4 streams has coincidence with the concept of Lord Vishnu . The serpent associated with all Hindu Gods is a representation of rotating object as in a sine curve over time base similar to figure of ac current in all gadgets . The source for our Milky way galaxy with the stars coming out is visualized as multiple headed Adishesha . This black Object is situated in the direction of group of stars called Sagittarius which looks like a bird hence the Garuda to be seen first in the temple before Lord Vishnu .
In Kaliyuga, such acts were imminent and god had lesser intervention because he had destined it to happen. The gold that was carried away will also be looted by someone and the relay goes on. As per the words of Krishna in Geetha, nothing is permanently owned. Saint Ramanuja who lived beyond 100 years had spiritual gnanadrishti about the passing of Thulukka Nachiyar and her merging in to the lord. Ramanujacharya understood everything during his Bharatha desa Digvijayam.
In the melee, idols would have been misplaced at different temples like Melukote, Tirupati or elsewhere. So the authenticity of fact dwells with the lord himself. This was a common feature during the days of invasion and the revelation of hidden idols by divine dreams. All had happened with a purpose. Little known and much unknown about other incidents. Saints and siddhars appear as messengers of god to guide us and protect dharma.
Several lakh tonnes of gold is buried under earth across the geographical range from Srilanka, Matsya, Goa (Rathidweepam), Rajasthan to Ayodhya. These were hidden by Ravana, Matsaya kings, Harischandra and Rama. It is almost like hillocks of hold submerged under earth and will be revealed at the right time before the end of kaliyuga. The mapped areas are described by Sidhar Bogar in one of his magnificent compositions called Bogar-7000.
After an overwhelming response to the opening show of Divya Prakash Dubey's Tension mat le yaar, on the demand of audiences we are back with another show, this time on 8th June, at Rasa, Goregaon!
Bharat Chalti Phirti Kahaaniyon ka Desh Hai. Aur in kahaaniyon se kuch log aaye din takraate rehte hain. Unhin logon mein ek jaana-maana naam hai - Author, Screenwriter, Storyteller, Performer - Divya Prakash Dubey ka.
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