To all the people who don’t know about this place, I would like to give a small background of this place. Srirangam temple is the largest functioning temple in the world located in Tiruchirappalli, Tamilnadu, India. Srirangam is the foremost of the eight self-manifested shrines of Lord Vishnu. It is dedicated to Ranganatha, a reclining form of Lord Vishnu. This temple is also known as Thiruvaranga Tirupati, Periyakoil, Bhoologa Vaikundam, Bhogamandabam. This temple is enormous, where the temple complex is 156 acres in extent. The temple complex has been nominated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is in UNESCO’s tentative list. To know more about this place, you can go through this site: https://srirangam.org/.
In this post, I would like to share my travel experiences, when we visited this place. I along with my friend Sai Kiran traveled via bus from Hyderabad and reached Trichy. We got down the bus and visited our hotel where we are supposed to stay for the day. We are given instructions by our Sir about this temple, like which bus to board, where to get the bus and eat. We refrehed ourselves by having a bath and had breakfast. We started moving towards the bus stop to get the bus. I am trying to understand the words, that are written in Tamil on the shops beside the road.
After reaching the bus stop, we searched for our bus and crosschecked thrice by asking nearby people, to make sure we get the right bus. Finally, we got into the bus and asked for a ticket, Conductor gave us our tickets. I was surprised by their fare as they are so cheap and affordable. Inside the bus, I saw many men are in Lungi and when the conductor asks him for money, he put hands inside his Lungi and gives the change. Later I saw, the same person taking out his purse, mobile and small book from his lungi. On seeing this, I was like “How many pockets you have inside that Lungi, where are you putting all this?”. It was like a magician taking several things from a small box. I noticed one more thing, that no girl on the bus is standing. Whenever a girl boards the bus, men were offering a seat to her. There is no such partition of seats reserved for ladies like we use to have in our Hyderabad City buses.
The people are voluntarily offering seats for ladies to sit, that is one of the great gestures I have seen. As we are moving forward, I opened my maps to check how far we had reached. It shows more than 30 min to reach your destination. I am shocked to see that; it has shown 10 km from where we started to Srirangam. Now we had traveled for 20 min and still, it shows the same 10 Km. We are scared thinking we boarded the wrong bus and were moving somewhere else. I asked the Conductor “Anna, where is Srirangam?”. He replied “it will come” and went off in a hurry. Again, when he came back, I asked the same question. He is like “Anna, don’t worry. I will let you know when your stop arrives”
With a ticket that costs less than 10, we are traveling for half an hour. The bus approached one-stop and many people left the bus. I managed to get a window seat so that I can see the signboards on the way. Few youngsters both boys and girls boarded into the bus, I thought we will ask them. I called a youngster sitting nearby us and asked: “whether this bus takes us to Srirangam?”. They replied “Yes, it will. It is taking a long time as the regular route is blocked for maintenance and the bus has taken longer route”. After hearing that, I felt relieved and it answers all my questions running in my mind at that time.
Finally, through my window seat, I can see the gopuram of the temple. Soon, the Bus approached our destination and Conductor asked us to get down. We got down the bus and saw the entry point of the temple. The Gopuram of the temple is so big and well crafted. As we moved forward inside the temple, I saw many people selling toys, eatables, beverages, etc… The temple is so big, so they arranged necessary items within the temple. We moved through nearly 5 to 6 dwaras to reach the main temple where we can see the god “Lord Vishnu”. When I am supposed to capture the premises on my mobile, a priest approached me and said: “Photography is not allowed inside temple premises”. I replied sorry and went inside for our Darshana and waited in line for our turn.
Finally, I can see the idol. The statue was a well-crafted masterpiece and its huge. We offered our prayers and started walking out. We came across a Veda Shala, where small kids are getting lessons from the priests regarding Vedas. The temple is so big that we were unable to visit every part of it. Outside Temple, we can fight many Chariots which are used in Utsavam. They are so huge and big. Its wheel is bigger than my height, where I am 6 ft tall.
On the way back, we visited another temple of Lord Shiva and started our journey back to Trichy. We reached Bus Stop and we are very hungry as we didn’t have any lunch in the afternoon. We got on the bus and reached our room. We refreshed ourself and had a complete South Indian meal from a nearby hotel and laid back in our room.
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It was a good day well spent meeting new people, exploring their culture, values, and traditions. There is a lot to share from that entire trip. I will continue the same in my upcoming blogs. Do visit this World’s one of the biggest temples in your vacation. Do share this with your friends and family members who are staying in India, especially in Tamil Nadu.
Do read my other posts: “The Revenge” and “My Biryani Story”.
Happy Reading and Keep Smiling.
Regards,
Avinash Reddy.
directionless writings 
Very nicely u wrote about ur experience Avinash….
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