Sri Ranganathaswami Temple, Srirangapatnam

I was brought up by my grand mother from my age one. I have spent only few years with my father and he has taken me to srirangam temple and gunaseelam temple many times. I was in class four. we used to take bath in cauvery and visit gunaseelam temple. my father's sibllings were in peramur a village on the banks of river cauvery between musiri and gunaseelam.Many times my father used to carry me on his shoulders and cross the river cauvery to reach pettavaithalai road, then we proceed to mukombu and he used to explain me the history of old and new bridges in upper anicut. sometimes he used to take me to ayyampalayam village and buy me a ghee dosa. my memories with my father remain fresh but my father is not in this world. Only Cauvery and ranganathar are with me these days. whenever I remember my father I will visit srirangapatinam and request ranganathar to take care of him. Sriranganathar at srirangam and sriranganathar at srirangapatnam are my father's favorite. I searched in google for rare photos of srirangapatnam and have shared it here.

This photograph of the exterior wall and entrance gopuram of the Sri Ranagnathaswami Temple in Srirangapatnam, taken in the 1890s by an unknown photographer, is from the Curzon Collection's 'Souvenir of Mysore Album'. Notes accompanying the album explain, "The temple of Sri Ranganathaswami is the principal Hindu building in the fort. It is related that in the earliest ages, Gautamarishi worshipped here. In A.D. 894, one Tirumalaiya appears to have founded the temple; and in 1454, Timmana, a Hebbar, enlarged it with materials taken from 101 Jain temples."

Photograph of the Srirunganatha Swami Temple in Seringapatam, Karnataka, from the Archaeological Survey of India Collections: India Office Series, taken by Henry Dixon in the 1860s. Seringapatam, a small town near Mysore, is an island fortress surrounded by the Kaveri River that was ruled by a succession of courts, the most prominent of which was Haidar Ali (r. 1761-1782) and his son Tipu Sultan (r. 1782-1799). This temple predates those rulers as the majority of it was built at the end of 9th century. This photograph is a general view of the gopura of the Temple.

Photograph of the temple car or chariot of the Sriranganathaswami temple at Srirangapattana (Seringapatam), taken by William Henry Pigou in 1857, from Taylor and Fergusson's 'Architecture in Dharwar and Mysore'. The chariot, decorated with intricate wood carving, is used to carry the statues of the gods during religious festivals. Srirangapattana, formerly the capital of Haidar Ali and his son and successor Tipu Sultan, rulers of Mysore and adversaries of the British, is situated on an island in the Kavery River. Besides being the capital of both the Hindu and Muslim rulers of Mysore, the island has long been a Hindu pilgrimage site, primarily because of the 10th century Sriranganathaswamy temple, dedicated to Vishnu, from which it derives its name.

Photograph of the Wellesley Bridge in Seringapatam, Karnataka, part of the 'Crofton Collection: Topographical and architectural views in India', taken by an unknown photographer in the 1870s. Seringapatam, a small town near Mysore, is an island fortress surrounded by the Kaveri Rver that was ruled by Tipu Sultan from 1782 to his death in 1799. He was nicknamed The Tiger of Mysore for his resistance to the British. This photograph is of the Wellesley Bridge, the only direct link to Tipu Sultan's walled fort, and is named after Lord Wellesley, who crossed this bridge in a battle with the Sultan and his French allies. The Kaveri River arises in the Western Ghats and flows west to east through Karnataka and Tamil Nadu to the Bay of Bengal, South India.

This photograph of the Wellesley Bridge, Srirangapatna taken in the 1890s by an unknown photographer, is from the Curzon Collection's 'Souvenir of Mysore Album'.Accompanying the photograph is this note: "Wellesley Bridge, over the Kaveri at Seringapatam, was erected in 1804, under the direction of Dewan Purnaiya, at the cost of 5½ lakhs, and named after the Governor-General, the Marquis of Wellesley. It is an interesting specimen of native architecture, being composed of stone pillars, capped with stone corbels, and surmounted by stone girders, on which the flags of the roadway are laid. Though rough in construction, the bridge has survived the heaviest floods for a century without injury."

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