Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrī Caitanya Caritāmrita Madhya 9.79

pāpa-nāśane vishnu kaila daraśana

śrī-rańga-kshetre tabe karilā gamana

SYNONYMS

pāpa-nāśane — at the place named Pāpanāśana; vishnu — Lord Vishnu; kaila — did; daraśana — visiting; śrī-rańga-kshetre — to the holy place named Śrī Rańga-kshetra; tabe — then; karilā — did; gamana — departure.

TRANSLATION

After visiting the holy place named Śiva-kshetra, Caitanya Mahāprabhu arrived at Pāpanāśana and there saw the temple of Lord Vishnu. Then He finally reached Śrī Rańga-kshetra.

PURPORT

There are two holy places known as Pāpanāśana: one is located eight miles southwest of Kumbhakonam, and the other lies near the river Tāmraparnī, in the district of Tirunelveli, twenty miles west of the city of Tirunelveli (Pālamakotā).

Śrī Rańga-kshetra (Śrī Rańgam) is a very famous place. It lies in the district of Tiruchchirāpalli, about ten miles west of Kumbhakonam and near the city of Tiruchchirāpalli, on an island in the Kāverī River. The Śrī Rańgam temple is the largest in India, and there are seven walls surrounding it. There are also seven roads leading to Śrī Rańgam. The ancient names of these roads are the road of Dharma, the road of Rājamahendra, the road of Kulaśekhara, the road of Ālinādana, the road of Tiruvikrama, the Tirubidi road of Mādamādi-gāisa, and the road of Ada-iyāvala-indāna. The temple was founded before the reign of Dharmavarma, who reigned before Rājamahendra. Many celebrated kings like Kulaśekhara and Yāmunācārya (Ālabandāru) resided in the temple of Śrī Rańgam. Yāmunācārya, Śrī Rāmānuja, Sudarśanācārya and others also supervised this temple.

The incarnation of the goddess of fortune known as Godādevī or Śrī Āndāl was one of the twelve Ālvārs, liberated persons known as divya-sūris. She was married to the Deity of Lord Śrī Rańganātha, and later she entered into the body of the Lord. An incarnation of Kārmuka named Tirumańga (also one of the Ālvārs) acquired some money by stealing and built the fourth boundary wall of Śrī Rańgam. It is said that in the year 289 of the Age of Kali, the Ālvār of the name Tondaradippadi was born. While engaged in devotional service he fell victim to a prostitute, and Śrī Rańganātha, seeing His devotee so degraded, sent one of His servants with a golden plate to that prostitute. When the golden plate was discovered missing from the temple, there was a search, and it was found in the prostitute's house. When the devotee saw Rańganātha's mercy upon this prostitute, his mistake was rectified. He then prepared the third boundary wall of the Rańganātha temple and cultivated a tulasī garden there.

There was also a celebrated disciple of Rāmānujācārya's known as Kūreśa. Śrī Rāmapillāi was the son of Kūreśa, and his son was Vāgvijaya Bhatta, whose son was Vedavyāsa Bhatta, or Śrī Sudarśanācārya. When Sudarśanācārya was an old man, the Muslims attacked the temple of Rańganātha and killed about twelve hundred Śrī Vaishnavas. At that time the Deity of Rańganātha was transferred to the temple of Tirupati, in the kingdom of Vijaya-nagara. The governor of Gingee, Goppanārya, brought Śrī Rańganātha from the temple of Tirupati to a place known as Simha-brahma, where the Lord was situated for three years. In the year 1293 Śaka (A.D. 1371) the Deity was reinstalled in the Rańganātha temple. On the eastern wall of the Rańganātha temple is an inscription written by Vedānta-deśika relating how Rańganātha was returned to the temple.

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