By Acarya Dasa (Padayatra leader)
The All India Padayatra arrived at Srirangam, an island bounded by the Kaveri and Kollidam rivers in the city of Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, on 27 April 2026, staying there this time for three days.
There had been a temple president in Srirangam named Nandaputra Dasa, a disciple of Jayapataka Maharaja. In 1984, when the padayatra was travelling from Karnataka to Kerala, the Trivandrum temple president sent Nandaputra to Srirangam, saying, “Many Maharajas are coming, and there will be a grand welcome for Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai with elephants, camels, horses, and many devotees.” Around seventy-five devotees were due to arrive.
At that time Nandaputra was a college student and one of his student friends had accompanied him. But on the way to Srirangam, that friend returned to Trivandrum with all the clothes, money and belongings, leaving him alone. Nandaputra did not know whom to meet, how to arrange accommodations, or how to organize the welcome. He knew the local language, but not anyone residing there. He was worried and even crying, wondering how he could arrange everything for so many senior devotees and Maharajas.
Nandaputra had not eaten for two days, but as he sat in a Krishna temple sincerely praying to Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai he met an ISKCON life member and explained everything to him, saying, “I am from ISKCON, and an ISKCON padayatra is coming. Could you please help us a little?”
That life member kindly assisted by buying clothes for him, giving him shelter, and the next day gathering friends and people from various associations. Together they arranged accommodations, garlands and a grand welcome for all the devotees.
By the mercy of Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai, everything turned out beautifully, and Maharaja gave him many blessings. From there, Nandaputra eventually brought the padayatra all the way to Trivandrum, and when we met him he was very happy to remain with us throughout our stay.
At Srirangam the padayatris had very wonderful darsana. The name Srirangam comes from the Sriranga Vimana of Vishnu that became grounded at this place. Sri Ranganath Swami is manifested from Vaikuntha, and the deity is millions of years old. Maharaja Dasharatha, and later Lord Ramachandra, worshipped Him.
After the war in Lanka, when Ravana was defeated, Lord Rama became king. When leaving Ayodhya, Vibhishana (Ravana’s brother) told Lord Rama, “I cannot live without You.” Lord Rama then gave him the deity of Ranganath Swami and said, “There is no difference between Me and this deity. Take Him with you, but do not keep Him anywhere on the ground, because once placed He will not move further.”
Travelling towards Lanka, Vibhishana reached Srirangam. He needed to perform Gayatri and attend to nature’s call, so he handed the deity to someone for a short time. But the Lord became extremely heavy and remained there in Srirangam. When Vibhishana returned and tried to lift the deity, the Lord said, “I will remain here.”
Therefore, Ranganath Swami stayed in Srirangam. Even today, the deity faces south towards Lanka, blessing Vibhishana’s kingdom. People say that every afternoon, during the Raja bhoga offering, Vibhishana himself comes invisibly to offer bhoga to the Lord.
The devotees told us many such wonderful pastimes. During Caturmasya, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu had stayed at the house of Venkata Bhatta in Srirangam, where He personally carved His own set of Jagannatha deities which to this day reside close to the original Bhatta family home. The padayatris went for darsana of Jagannatha Baladev Subhadra maiya and met the pujari there, who blessed us all. We had katha kirtana there and honoured prasadam of Lord Jagannatha.
We also circumambulated the Sri Ranganath temple with our padayatra chariot, visited the birthplace of Gopal Bhatta Goswami, and took a holy dip in the Kaveri River along with our four-legged padayatris. The padayatris celebrated Narsimha Caturdasi at the Tiruchirappalli ISKCON temple with the temple devotees, and the next day moved towards Madhurai.
May Lord Ranganath bless us all to serve Sri Sri Nitai-Gaurasundar eternally.
Sri Ranganath Bhagavan ki jai.
