SRI RANGANATHASWAMY-SRIRANGAM

It is said that Ikshwaku, the ancestor of Sri Rama worshipped the murti of Sri Vishnu. When Dashratha conducted yajna to beget sons, all Kings were invited. Raja Dharmavarman from South also came. He was struck by the beauty of the murti.
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Dashrath was not willing to part with the murti. So Dharmavarman had to return without the murti.
Much later, the coronation of Sri Ram as Raja, was attended by Vibhishana. He also wanted this murti and Sri Ram agreed to give it to him but told him not to keep it anywhere.
On way back, Vibhishana stopped for evening pooja. He saw a child (who was Ganesh) n asked him to hold the murti. The child kept the murti down after sometime. Vishnu then appeared and told sad Vibhishana that he would stay there but would always have his eyes resting on Lanka.
So Prabhu lies in Srirangam, with his head on the Western Side and eyes seeing the south. The entrance to the Mandir is also from the south and the sanctum also faces the southern direction.
Pleased Dharmavarman built a mandir around it which got buried under sand in due course.
After years, a Chola prince went hunting and heard a parrot say a sloka in chaste sanskrit about a Mandir being buried underneath
He undertook excavations which revealed the murti. The prince henceforth came to be called Kili Cholan as he acted according to parrot’s directions.

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