The Sri Ranganthaswamy temple in Shivanasamudra, Kollegala taluk, Chamarajanagara district,

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

is a

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

dedicated to the Hindu God

Ranganatha Ranganatha, also known as Ranganathar, Rangan, Aranganathar, Sri Ranga, and Thenarangathan, is a Hindu deity with his origin in South India, serving as the chief deity of the Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple, Srirangam. The deity is a resting form of ...

, a manifestation of

Vishnu Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism. Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" withi ...

. While there are numerous Ranganatha temples in South India, and many of those are located along the banks of river Cauvery, there are three temples within the islands that are formed within the river itself. The temple is one of a such three major temples that are built on three different islands on the River Kaveri, the others being those at Srirangapatna and

Srirangam Srirangam, is a neighbourhood in the city of Tiruchirappalli in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. A river island, Srirangam is bounded by the Kaveri River on one side and its distributary Kollidam on the other side. Considered as the first among ...

. Shivana Samudra is 85 km from Mysore and 115 km from Bangalore. Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple located here is built in the Dravidan style of architecture. Sri Ranganathaswamy here is also referred to as "Madhya Ranga", who is highly revered by Sri Vaishnava devotees among others. Among the three forms of Ranganatha, the deity here is believed to represent the youthful form of the supreme being and hence is also fondly referred to as 'Mohana Ranga' and 'Jaganmohana Ranga'. Madhyranga is an ancient temple housing a beautiful idol, yet being located remotely sees few visitors. It sees fairly a good number of visitors over weekend. The temple has recently started renovation of the temple which is beginning in feb 2021.

Other nearby temples

There are three more temples in three other sides of the island. The ancient Sri Someshwara Temple is another famous temple here at Shivanasamudra. Adi guru Sri Shankaracharya is said to visited this place and has established a "Sri Chakra" in this place. Surprisingly, it is believed that the Someshwara Linga here is said to have been existing much before the Ranganantha Idol and that the Saptarshis were performing pooja and worshipping this Linga. The Shakthi Devathe temple of Vanadurga Devi is 1 km away from the Someshwara temple. :

References

Hindu temples in Mandya district Abhimana temples of Vishnu Purana temples of Vishnu {{India-hindu-temple-stub