Triranga Darshanam

Triranga Darshanam

"Triranga Darshanam" holds great significance among Vaishnavas in South India. It involves visiting Adhi Ranga (Sri Ranganatha Swamy at Srirangapatna), Madhya Ranga (Sri Jaganmohana Swamy at Shivanasamudra), and Anthya Ranga (Sri Aranganathar of Srirangam at Trichy) between sunrise and sunset, a practice termed Triranga Darshanam.

Pariharam: This darshan is often referred to as 'Brahmanda Darshanam' by many, and it is believed that it relieves people of various malefic effects of planets.

Date: 18-02-2012

Route map at Aadi Ranga(Srirangapatna Temple)

Our Route map to Triranga Darshanam

A: Srirangapattana, Karnataka

B: Bannur, Karnataka

C: Malavalli, Karnataka

D: Kollegala Main Rd, Malavalli, Karnataka

E: Madhyarangam Temple, Barachukki Falls Road, Chamarajnagar, Karnataka

F: Chamrajnagar, Karnataka

G: Bannari Amman Temple, NH 209, Erode, Tamil Nadu

H: Satyamangalam, तमिल नाडु

I: Erode Junction Railway Station, Erode, Tamil Nadu

J: Karur Railway Station, Karur, Tamil Nadu

K: Srirangam, Thiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu

Distance: About 433kms from Srirangapattana to Srirangam

Despite taking the longest route, we reached the temple on time, thanks to the Lord Ranganatha Swamy's grace.

Important note: "The first temple (Srirangapatna) opens at 7:30 am daily, except on Fridays (opens at 6 am) and during Dhanur Maasam."

Board on the Main door of the temple

Aadi Ranga:

Srirangapatna - Ranganatha Swamy Temple

We reached Srirangapatna at 4am. We finished Magha snanam(bathing in river during Magha Masam) in the river Cauvery at Triveni Sangam and proceeded towards Sri Ranganatha Swamy temple at Srirangapatna. We were at the main door of the temple at 5am.

To our surprise, the temple main door had a board displaying that the temple opens at 7:30am on all days except Fridays (6:00am). I also found out that the temple opens around 4:30am during Dhanur Maasam.  There were 5 other groups of devotees waiting at the temple door hoping that the temple opens before 7:30am. I did strike a conversation with a few members in the group and it was clear that all of them were worried about making darshanam in a day’s time because of the delay in the first temple darshanam. This made a dent on everyone’s hopes of making the trip in a day’s time.

The temple opened at 7:30am sharp and the darshanam of the Lord was nothing less than a feast to our eyes. We could not afford to spend an hour or more in the temple so we left the temple premises at 8am to Madhya Ranga.

Madhya Ranga:

Madhya Ranga at Shivanasamudra

Depiction of Sri Ranganatha Swamy with Sri Devi  

We reached Madhya Ranga at 9:25am. When we arrived at Madhya Ranga, the temple was locked by the priest as there were no devotees that day. The priest stays closeby within a sighting distance from the temple. We had to take flower sellers’ help to have him come back and open the temple for us and the other devotees who were trailing us. By the time we finished the darshanam at Madhya Ranga, the other groups arrived at the temple. We exchanged smiles and wished each other for proper completion of Triranga darshanam. We left the temple premises at 9:50am. We had the lunch packed from home in the middle of Sathyamangala forest and it took an hour’s time. We took another break of 30 minutes on reaching Tamil Nadu border. While the driver went to get the permit, we walked to Bannari Amman temple a few meters away from there.

Anthya Ranga:

Srirangam Temple

We found the travel to Trichy a little difficult because the signage was in Tamil and none of us could read it though we knew Tamil fluently. This made us stop at places we needed directions to the temple. We reached Srirangam at 5:30pm and took Thayaar’s darshanam within the temple. By the time we went to take the Lord’s darshanam, the door to the Lord’s darshanam was closed. On enquiring we found out that the darshanam would resume at 7pm again. There was a lot of crowd as it was Ekadashi. We waited in the queue and had a fabulous darshanam(a treat to the eyes!!) of the Lord Sri Ranganatha sleeping on Adishesha.

After the darshanam, we had Prasadam sold at the temple counter and relaxed thanking the Lord for facilitating this darshanam. We left the temple premises at 9pm to reach home.

Om Sri Ranganathaaya Namah! Om Namo Narayanaaya! Om Namo Venkateshaaya!