Srirangam Ranganatha Temple Since 1868 Photo Essay

Year: 1868 : LYON EDMUND DAVID : On the left, on entering the Gateway…a stone staircase leads to the top, from which a general view of the whole interior of the pagoda is obtained. The houses seen below are those of the Brahmins, of whom 8,000 are said to live inside the walls. The tall Gateways or Gopuras in the centre, mark entrances into the inner Courts on the south side, while the corresponding Gateways on the north side are seen in the distance on the left; the large Gopura on the right marks the entrance to the Horse Court. This pagoda contains upwards of twenty of these Pyramidal Gateways – See more at: http://srirangamtoday.com/srirangamtemple_oldrarephotos.html#sthash.emW3LPIm.dpuf

Year: 1868 : Photograph from an album of 41 albumen prints by Edmund David Lyon, showing the Hall of a Thousand Columns at the Ranganatha temple in Srirangam. Lyon’s ‘Notes to Accompany a Series of Photographs Prepared to Illustrate the Ancient Architecture of Southern India’, edited by James Fergusson, gives the following description: ‘Exactly opposite the Portico with the richly carved horsemen pillars… is a portico or Hall, said to contain 1,000 pillars. Such halls are far from being uncommon in Southern temples, some containing really 1,000 pillars, each of a single slab of granite. Owing, however, to the omission of several in the centre, this one possesses only 980, which support a roof nearly six feet in thickness. It is in this hall that pilgrims meet, during the great festival in January, when the god is exhibited to thousands of ecstatic devotees – See more at: http://srirangamtoday.com/srirangamtemple_oldrarephotos.html#sthash.emW3LPIm.dpuf

Year: 1895 :An arrangement of temple jewellery from the Ranganatha Temple at Srirangam, from the Archaeological Survey of India Collections: Madras, 1896-98 – See more at: http://srirangamtoday.com/srirangamtemple_oldrarephotos.html#sthash.emW3LPIm.dpuf

Year: 1895 : Photograph of an ornate ivory ratha with a temple priest in the background, Ranganatha Temple at Srirangam, from the Archaeological Survey of India Collection: Madras – See more at: http://srirangamtoday.com/srirangamtemple_oldrarephotos.html#sthash.emW3LPIm.dpuf

Srirangam Gopuram now.