On an island in the Kaveri near Tiruchirapalli in Tamil Nadu stands the Ranganathaswamy temple of Srirangam — the largest functioning Hindu temple complex in the world, its seven concentric walls enclosing twenty-one gopurams and crowned by the soaring Rajagopuram, among the tallest temple towers in Asia. Here Vishnu reclines as Ranganatha upon the serpent Adisesha, revered as the foremost of the 108 Divya Desams and as Bhuloka Vaikuntha, Vaikuntha on earth.
The temple is the very heart of Sri Vaishnavism: it was the home of the great teacher Ramanuja, and is celebrated in the Tamil hymns of the Alvars, above all those of Andal, whose Tiruppavai resounds here. Legend links its presiding image to Lord Rama, who is said to have given it to Vibhishana.
Its vast prakarams, its thousand-pillared hall, and the grand Vaikuntha Ekadasi festival — when the Lord passes through the gate of heaven — draw pilgrims from across the world to this supreme abode of Ranganatha.
Srirangam is not a temple in a town. It is a town inside a temple — seven concentric walled enclosures, with streets, houses and shops between them.
Source: Arulmigu Ranganathaswamy Temple, HR&CE Tamil Nadu
