This article is the fifth in the series of articles about the temples of Sri Rama ,which are older than Ayodhya Ram temple.
There are scores of Rama Temples in India, especially in South India,which are quite ancient and the time scale of these temples go beyond our known scale of Time. I am writing about such temples,which can be dated in our limited understanding of Time.For instance many temples, like Sri Rangam temple,Tamil Nadu is recorded in literature as older than Rama Avatar. There are I such temples. I am furnishing a list of Three temples which were in existence before 4025 BC. ( Citation. Sakkottai Krishnaswami Aiyangar (1911). Ancient India: Collected Essays on the Literary and Political History of Southern India. pp. 403–404. )This date is the birth date of Poigai Azhwar,a great Saint of Si Vaishnava system of Bhakti.I have selected these temples because the Murthis in these temples are praised by Poigai Azhwar in his work,which forms a part of Nalayira Divya Prabhandham,collection of Hymns addressed to Sri Vishnu.I have selected these temples because they have a Sanctum of Sri Rama.As the date of birth of Poigai Azhwar is 4025 BC,these temples should have existed before 4025 BC.
The Temples are,
Srirangam Renganatha Temple.Though the Presiding Deity is Sri Vishnu as Ranganatha,Sri Rama has a separate Sanctum.
Ulakalandha Perumal temple, Thirukkoilur.Sri Rama has a Sanctum here.
Thirupathi Balaji temple.
Tirumala Rama idol is one of the deities in the Tirumala Venkateswara Temple, Andhra Pradesh. While the temple is dedicated to worship of lord Vishnu as Venkateswara, it contains the idols of some of Vishnu’s other avatars: Rama and Krishna. The idol is usually accompanied by his consort Sita and his brother Lakshmana. Tirupati Rama
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