Parimala Ranganatha Perumal Temple, Tiruindalur
பரிமள ரங்கநாதர் கோயில், திருஇந்தளூர்
Why this temple matters
At Tiruindalur in the Kaveri delta near Mayiladuthurai, Vishnu reclines as Parimala Ranganatha, the fragrant Ranganatha. A Divya Desam sung by the Alvars and one of the five Ranganatha shrines of the river, its green-stone reclining lord is the last of the five in the deep delta.
History
Tiruindalur lies in the Kaveri delta near Mayiladuthurai, and its temple is dedicated to Vishnu as Parimala Ranganatha, the fragrant Ranganatha. It is a Divya Desam, one of the 108 abodes sung by the Alvar saints in the Nalayira Divya Prabandham, and one of the five Pancharanga Kshetrams of the river. The name Tiruindalur is drawn from Indu, the moon, for whom the lord is said to have appeared here; the shrine is of Chola antiquity, deep in the temple country of the delta.
Architecture
Built in the Dravidian manner, the temple gathers around the sanctum of the reclining lord, whose image — some twelve feet in length and carved of green stone — lies facing east upon the serpent, with the Goddess Parimala Ranganayaki in her own shrine. Pillared halls and a gateway tower open before the sanctum, in the mature delta manner of the Chola and later ages.
Legends
The lord is called Parimala Ranganatha — the fragrant Ranganatha — for the fragrance he is said to have imparted to the Vedas when he recovered them from the demons Madhu and Kaitabha in his fish incarnation. Here too he is said to have appeared for Chandra, the moon, to lift a curse, giving the place its name of Tiruindalur. And it is told that when the saint Thirumangai Alvar sang before the closed doors of the shrine, they opened only when, in feigned despair, he offered the temple back to the lord — a tale the devout recall at the threshold.
Festivals
The temple keeps the Vaishnava calendar — Vaikunta Ekadashi, the Brahmotsavam, and the days of the Alvars — with processions through the delta town. The car festival and the float festival draw the surrounding country, and the days of the Pancharanga pilgrimage bring devotees following the river to its shrines.
The Experience
Tiruindalur rewards the pilgrim who reaches the deep delta with the fragrant lord upon his green-stone couch and the memory of Thirumangai Alvar at the door. It lies close to Mayiladuthurai among the temple towns of the Kaveri, and it closes the pilgrimage of the five Rangas that begins far upstream at Srirangapatna in the Karnataka uplands.