Ranganathaswamy Temple, Shivanasamudra
ಶ್ರೀ ರಂಗನಾಥಸ್ವಾಮಿ ದೇವಾಲಯ, ಶಿವನಸಮುದ್ರ
Why this temple matters
On a river-island beside the great falls of the Kaveri, Vishnu reclines as Jaganmohana Ranganatha — the Madhya Ranga, the middle of the three Rangas of the river. Ancient in origin and raised by the Hoysalas and Vijayanagara, it is the second stage of the pilgrimage of the five Ranganatha shrines.
History
Shivanasamudra sits on an island of the Kaveri beside the famous falls where the river splits and plunges in twin cascades. Its temple to Vishnu as Ranganatha is honoured as the Madhya Ranga, the middle Ranga, standing between the Adi Ranga at Srirangapatna upstream and the Antya Ranga at Srirangam far below. The shrine is held to be very ancient, of Chola origins, and was enhanced over the centuries by the Hoysalas, the Vijayanagara emperors and the later rulers of Mysore.
Architecture
Built in the Dravidian manner, the temple gathers around the sanctum of the reclining lord, here worshipped as Jaganmohana Ranganatha, whose dark image is said to be carved from a single saligrama-like stone. Pillared halls and a gateway tower open before the shrine, and the island setting — ringed by the branching river and its falls — lends the temple a wild and elemental beauty rare among the great Vaishnava sanctuaries.
Legends
As the Madhya Ranga, Shivanasamudra is the middle jewel of the river's three Rangas, and the pilgrim who worships at Srirangapatna, Shivanasamudra and Srirangam in a single day completes the Triranga Darshana held to be of great merit. The lord here is honoured as the youthful, enchanting form of Ranganatha — Mohana Ranga — reclining in serene sleep upon the serpent while the Kaveri thunders past the island in its falls.
Festivals
The temple keeps the Vaishnava calendar — Vaikunta Ekadashi, the birth-star days of the lord, and the annual Brahmotsavam — with processions around the island shrine. The falls are fullest in the monsoon months, when the roar of the twin cascades joins the temple's festival, and the days of the Triranga pilgrimage bring devotees from across Karnataka.
The Experience
Shivanasamudra joins the devotion of the reclining lord to the grandeur of the Kaveri's falls — an island shrine between two cascades, wild and quiet at once. It lies in the country between Mandya and Chamarajanagar, reached by road from Bengaluru and Mysuru, and it forms the middle stage of the Pancharanga pilgrimage that runs the length of the river.