Ranganathaswamy Temple at Rangasthala is one of the less visited and beautiful temple around bengaluru.
Been bought up in a temple environment, i am always fascinated by the temples and architecture. Post covid, i had never planned a day trip from Bengaluru. During a temple talk with one of my cousin, happened to hear a place called Rangasthala. One fine day we decidedly to go to this beautiful place. Rangasthala is a temple Village located 5kms from Chikbalapura and 70kms from Bengaluru.
We got down from the bus in a place called thippanahalli and the temple is a km from there. Mukhadwaram(arch), Paddy lands, hills across and garden houses all over, The place reminded me of my hometown.
The temple can be seen from few distance as you walk through the village.A Big Statue of Garuda (Vahanam of Srivishnu) with Kalasham welcomes the devotees at the entrance of the temple. The temple has got a huge rajagopura.
This place is also known as Moksha Ranga. It’s a belief that one can attain Moksha by visiting this temple after worshipping the other three rangas (Adi Ranga at Srirangapatna, Madhya Ranga at Shivansamudra and Anthya Ranga at Srirangam). In all these 4 temples the main deity is Sriranganatha.
According to the local legend,the main deity was installed by Saptha Rishis ,on the same day of Rama pattabhishekam. Also to note that the deities of Srirangapatna and Srirangam were installed on the same Muhurtham.
This temple is a great workmanship of the hoysala and Vijayanagara architecture. Built by the hoysala kings and later developed by the Vijayanagara rulers , one can find their identity by their art works inside and outside the garbhagudi.
The outer prakaram has beautiful eye-catching sculpture and art.
The pillars conveys stories like Mahishasura vadha ,Kalinga narthana and few others.
Idol here is eka Shila saligrama. The garbhagudi is like a bamboo basket and it appears that main deity is in middle of the basket. The idol is 4-5 feet of lengthy with Bhoo Devi and Neela Devi sitting near the padha. Ranganatha is in yoga nidra Posture and Sesha is spreading his hoods.
There is a inner prakara (many might not notice) around the sanctum. One can seek the blessings of alwars and Srilakshmi inside the temple.
We were told by the locals ,that the sunrays falls on the Lotus foot of Sri Ranganatha on the auspicious day of Makara Sankranti. The Sankranti festival is celebrated grandly here.
There is also a large temple pond (Pushkarani) nearby to temple. We had a great time and a blessed day by visiting this place.
Bharath Murali is currently working in a IT company in Bengaluru. He grew up capturing all the temple events which later turned out to be his passion. He intends to contribute his part in bringing back our countries old Heritage Glory through his photography and travelogues.
Dr Janki Thaker