Srirangam Ranganatha Temple Sannidhi Timings Issue

Perumal, Thayar, Chakkarathazhvaar and Dhanvatri Sannidhis are closed between 8am and 10am leaving outstation devotees helpless

Will the HRCE Minister Ramesh who has promised devotee friendly initiatives look into this and rework the darshan timings at the Srirangam Temple

It is less than 24 hours since the suspension of a staff of the HRCE for improper conduct with the devotees of the Ranganathaswamy temple at Srirangam. It is just after 8.30am on this Sunday morning and a family of devotees from Coimbatore are frustrated and pointing fingers at each other for not having been able to have darshan in any of the Sannidhis as they now head to Thiruvanaikal in the hope of having darshan of Jambukeswarar and Akilandeswari.

So what’s the issue with the darshan timings at the Srirangam temple. This devotee writer has over the last one year brought this issue to the attention of JC Sivaram Kumar but he has pleaded helplessness. However good and professional he is in wanting to improve the service to the devotees, he has been rendered ‘weaponless’ with his inability to intrude into the internal Sannidhi affairs at the temple. He has made efforts over the last year to try and bring about some changes but the answer has been the same that HRCE cannot interfere in the ‘Ulthurai’ management of the temple and thus he has been kept at bay

                    Photo taken by this writer in 2008

The Perumal Sannidhi closes at 7.15am after the morning Vishroopam Sevai and reopens at 9.30am with Mangalaarathi but the non VIP devotees can begin to have darshan every day only from around 10am. The Ranganayaki Thayar Sannidhi closes at 8am and while mangalaarathi takes place at 9.45am, the darshan inside the Sannidhi for devotees starts only at around 10am. This is exactly the scenario at Chakkarathazhvaar and Dhanvantri Sannidhi as well.

Unfortunately, this devotee family from Coimbatore reached the temple just after 7.30am on this Sunday morning and found that the Ariya Bhattal Vaasal was closed after the early  morning Seva. By the time they walked to the Thayar Sannidhi, it was 8am and that too was closed. They tried Chakkarathazhvaar and the met with the same fate. Finally, they hoped to invoke the blessings of the God of Medicine, Dhanvantri, but that Sannidhi too was closed. 

Having travelled 250 kms to have darshan at Srirangam, they found just after 9am that they could not have darshan in any of the main Sannidhis. This is not an exception. This writer has brought to the attention of the JC multiple times this year that outstation devotees who reach the entrance of the Perumal Sannnidhi after 7.30am find themselves in a situation of not being able to have darshan till 10am there, at the Thayar Sannidhi, Chakkarathazhvaar or Dhanvantri Sannidhi and most of them break the heads not knowing what to do for the next two hours.

                       A helpless JC Sivaram Kumar

Absence of Timings Board in any Sannidhi

This writer has also brought to the attention of the JC that there are no timings board in any of the Sannidhis except the Perumal Sannidhi. One wonders as to why the HRCE cannot have a proper timings board in front of the Thayar Sannidhi or Chakkarathazhvaar Sannidhi instead of devotees having to keep asking people about the reopening of the Sannidhis. Why would the HRCE be so poor in its communication on this front. All outstation devotees having to ask others to get know of the timings of the Sannidhis is a deplorable state of affairs at this temple at a time when we are erring so much on over communication.

Since these sannidhis are closed for about 2 hours at the peak time in the morning when devotees typically have darshan in all temples in Tamil Nadu, the crowd builds up in each of the sannidhis at 9.30am and one finds long queues. There is also a scramble as to which Sannidhi they should go to at 9.30am since the main Sannidhis had been closed in the hour gone by. 

Unfortunately for the JC of the temple, every time he hopes to bring this issue with the concerned Kainkaryaparas, he is pushed back many a mile with the standard message ‘This is a historical tradition that cannot be changed now’.

A 1000 years ago, there would have been local residents as devotees for a major part. Now there are 1000s of outstation devotees reaching Srirangam in the morning. Those that reach the Perumal Sannidhi at 7.30am remain a frustrated lot for they miss darshan in all the main Sannidhis for the next 2.5hours.

It is a similar scenario in the evening as well when at the peak time for darshan these main sannidhis are closed from 5.30pm to around 7pm.

It is saddening to see the helpless state of the JC of the temple with his hands being tied resulting in his inability to be more devotee darshan friendly. When devotees raised issue on Saturday about the unfair treatment meted out to them by the HRCE staff, there was action taken immediately by the JC but on the issue of opening and closure of the sannidhis and hardship caused to outstation devotees, he has not been able to initiate any positive devotee friendly action. 

Will the new HRCE Minister S Ramesh who has repeatedly promised devotee friendly initiatives look into this, engage with the kainkaryaparas of the Srirangam temple and rework the Sannidhi timings so outstation devotees, who now throng the temple in large numbers, are able to have darshan at least in 2 of the main sannidhis at any point of time. Also, he should understand as to why Thayar Sannidhi or Chakkarathazhvaar Sannidhi should be closed for over 90 minutes in the morning and as to what happens in the Sannidhi during that period. If he personally visits the temple during this period, he will be able to better understand the issues of the devotees. 

Well past 9.15am on this Sunday morning, the devotee family from Coimbatore leave the Srirangam temple through the North Gate angry at the way the Ranganathaswamy temple functions and pointing out that they have not experienced such closure at peak morning time in any other temple in the state.