CDS (II) 2021 General Knowledge · Question 58 of 120

Correct — A, Srirangam. The Ranganathaswamy temple at Srirangam is dedicated to Ranganatha, the reclining form of Vishnu, with his consort Ranganayaki, and it is the foremost of the hundred and eight Divya Desams, the shrines sung by the Alvar poet-saints. It stands on the island between the Kaveri and its distributary the Kollidam, about twelve kilometres north of Tiruchirappalli, spreads over roughly sixty-three hectares within seven concentric enclosures with eighty-one shrines and twenty-one towers, and was the institutional centre of Ramanuja's Sri Vaishnavism — he composed the Gadya Traya in praise of this deity. The other three are all Shaiva foundations of the Tamil country, which is what makes the item a test of tradition rather than of geography.

• (b)Chidambaram — Chidambaram is the temple of Nataraja, Shiva as the lord of dance, and one of the five elemental linga shrines. It does contain a Govindaraja Perumal shrine that is itself counted among the Divya Desams, which is a genuine complication worth knowing, but the temple's identity and its principal deity are Shaiva.
• (c)Gangaikonda Cholapuram — Gangaikonda Cholapuram is the Brihadisvara temple built by Rajendra I to mark his northern campaign and his new capital. Like its model at Thanjavur it is dedicated to Shiva.
• (d)Thanjavur — Thanjavur is the great Brihadisvara temple of Rajaraja I, completed in the early eleventh century, again a Shiva temple. It is the first of the three Great Living Chola Temples on the UNESCO World Heritage List, along with Gangaikonda Cholapuram and Darasuram.

Tamil devotional religion has two great streams with their own canons of poet-saints — the Nayanars for Shiva, whose hymns form the Tevaram, and the Alvars for Vishnu, whose hymns form the Nalayira Divya Prabandham and whose shrines are the hundred and eight Divya Desams. A temple's tradition is fixed by which of these it belongs to, not by who built it, and Chola kings patronised both.

• The Ranganathaswamy temple at Srirangam is dedicated to Ranganatha, a reclining form of Vishnu, and is first among the 108 Divya Desams.
• It stands on the island between the Kaveri and the Kollidam, about 12 km north of Tiruchirappalli, over some 63 hectares with seven concentric enclosures.
• Ramanuja, the founder of qualified non-dualism, made Srirangam the centre of Sri Vaishnavism.
• Chidambaram is the Nataraja temple of Shiva; Thanjavur and Gangaikonda Cholapuram are the Brihadisvara temples of Rajaraja I and Rajendra I.
• Thanjavur, Gangaikonda Cholapuram and Darasuram together form the UNESCO Great Living Chola Temples.

• Sorting these temples by dynasty rather than by deity; the Cholas endowed Vaishnava and Shaiva shrines alike.
• Assuming Chidambaram is Vaishnava because of its Govindaraja shrine — the temple is a Shaiva foundation.
• Confusing the two Brihadisvara temples, at Thanjavur and at Gangaikonda Cholapuram, which were built a generation apart.

As a temple-to-tradition question, or as a matching list of temples with their principal deities or their builders.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Brihadisvara temple at Gangaikonda Cholapuram was built by

  • (a)Rajaraja I
  • (b)Rajendra I
  • (c)Kulottunga I
  • (d)Aditya I

  Answer(b) Rajendra I — to mark his northern campaign and his new capital, a generation after his father Rajaraja I built the Thanjavur temple.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The hymns of the Alvar saints are collected in which work?

  • (a)Tevaram
  • (b)Tiruvasagam
  • (c)Nalayira Divya Prabandham
  • (d)Periyapuranam

  Answer(c) Nalayira Divya Prabandham — the Vaishnava canon; the Tevaram and the Tiruvasagam belong to the Shaiva Nayanar tradition.