However the first place in Kishkindha where Lord Rama and Lakshmana arrived is a lake called Pampa Sarovar. After they observed the exquisite beauty of this lake, they visited Shabari who was a great devotee of Lord. Lord enjoyed the fruits offered to Him by Shabari on the banks of Pampa Sarovar. During those times Pampa Sarovar was a huge lake decorated with beautiful lotus flowers and different kinds of birds. Today also Pampa Sarovar is a very serene and beautiful place surrounded by hills from three sides. Although now it is smaller in size, the place is spiritually so vibrant that we can feel immediate spiritual nourishment when we go there. We are exceedingly sure about the purity of this holy place because Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu also took bath in this lake.

After visiting Shabari, Lord Rama and Lakshmana proceeded towards Matanga mountain to meet Sugriva. This Matanga mountain can be seen when you stand in the door of the Virupaksha temple and see towards the East. Sugriva was a younger brother of the king of Kishkindha named Vali. He was living there along with his four ministers. Hanuman, who is the great devotee of Lord, brought Lord Rama and Lakshmana and introduced them to Sugriva. Sugriva and Lord Rama became great friends. Sugriva was living in hiding in sage Matanga's ashrama as Vali wanted to kill Sugriva due to a previous misunderstanding. Sage Matanga's asharama was the only safe place for Sugriva and his ministers because Matanga muni had previously cursed Vali to die if Vali enters the area of his ashrama. Lord Rama helped Sugriva by killing Vali and installing Sugriva on the throne of the kingdom of Kishkindha. In return Sugriva helped Lord to search and rescue mother Sita. Sugriva gathered all the vanaras and sent them in different directions in search of mother Sita. It was the search party of Hanuman and Vali's son named Angada who discovered that Sita was present in Lanka. Once mother Sita's location was known, Lord Rama proceeded towards Lanka along with the huge army of vanaras. They built a bridge to Lanka and after the great war with Ravana and his army, they rescued mother Sita. Sugriva, Hanuman along with millions of other vanaras and their leaders played a very instrumental role in this rescue operation conducted to bring mother Sita and Lord Rama together. After these events, Angada, the son of Vali, was made king of the Kishkindha.

Today we can find many places in Hampi which witnessed these events. Pampa Sarovar, Malyavan mountain, Hemakuta mountain, Anjaneyadri which is a birthplace of Hanuman, the entrance to Vali's cave, temple of Durga whom Vali worshipped, a place where Lord Rama and Lakshmana stayed during the months of rainy season, Shabari's cave, the place where Sugriva stored the jewels dropped by Sita when she was being taken away are some of these places. 

Apart from the places of Lord's pastimes, Hampi is also famous as a capital of the Vijayanagara Kingdom. Many structures constructed by Vijayanagara kings are present in Hampi. Looking at these works of huge and beautifully carved stones to construct palaces, temples and water ponds, one can only imagine the prosperity that prevailed when the saintly kings like Krishnadevaraya ruled their kingdom on the basis of dharma. King Krishnadevaraya was a disciple in the line of Madhva Sampradaya and a great devotee of Lord. Today all we can see in Hampi is broken temples and palaces. The worship of Lord is absent in many of the temples as there is no deity. For a devotee and a spiritualist, looking and admiring the beauty of these vacant temples may not be enough.

Me and my wife visited Hampi during 24 to 26 December 2014. We spent the first day in Hampi looking at the palaces and temples constructed by Vijayanagara kings and it caused only pain and exhaustion in me. I actually started enjoying the Hampi trip when we visited the places related to Lord Rama and his devotees. On the second day, we walked towards Vitthala temple along the Southern bank of Tungabhadra river. On the way we visited Kodanda Rama temple. This temple has very big and beautiful deities of Lord Rama, Lakshmana and Sita. The place where the temple is located is extremely beautiful. Situated nearby are the temples of Hanuman and Lord Ranganath. Then we proceeded towards the Vitthala temple where we crossed the river by boat and reached a village named Anegundi. This is where Pampa Sarovar, Shabari's cave and Anjaneyadri are located. First we visited Pampa Sarovar where I found myself very happy. After briefly visiting Shabari's cave and nearby temple of Lord Shiva, we proceeded to the birth place of Hanuman, Anjaneyadri. This hill is named after Hanuman's mother Anjana. She performed austerities on this hill and demigod Vayu impregnated her with Hanuman. I found myself fully energetic even after climbing around 600 steps to the top of Anjaneyadri where temple of Lord Rama, Lakshmana, Sita as well as Hanuman and Anjana is located. After visiting these places, we came back to Hampi by the same way. Spending every evening in the devotional environment of the Virupaksha temple in the central Hampi was also a nectarine experience for me. I spent a good deal of my time on the third day by just sitting on the banks of Tungabhadra river at different places. I also went to the base of Matanga mountain but did not climb up this time.

I was very fortunate to listen the story Ramayana from my maternal grandmother since childhood. During the beginning of my stay in IISc, Lord gave me opportunity to relish the reading of Ramayana in detail. This pilgrimage to Hampi, the Kishkindha of Ramayana, was a reminder for me to continue the spiritual journey which has started long ago.

There may be many people who may question whether Ramayana actually happened, whether Lord Rama was actually there or the information that I have written above is really true. The answers to these questions will be easily obtained when we associate with the devotees of the Lord, study the authentic Vedic literature like Ramayana in which activities of Lord are recorded and visit the holy places where these activities took place. This will bring a spiritual change in us, which is good. There will be always some people who will point out the contradictions in scriptures and different religious systems. But a genuine devotee is sure that all the contradictions are present in the Lord and still He is simple to understand for a devotee. He is वेदेषु दुर्लभं अदुर्लभं आत्मभक्तौ.

This article is certainly not a good guide to visit different places in Hampi. It also does not focus much on Vijayanagara history in which many people may be interested. But it is my hope that it will bring out some interest to carefully study Ramayana as well as to visit this place where the ancient events mentioned in Ramayana took place.

I am not very good at writing but the merciful devotees of Lord may accept this article and offer it to the lotus feet of Lord. I will be very happy if devotees become happy after reading this article.

Acknowledgements
I thank all the devotees of Lord and especially those in Bhaktivedanta Institute, Bangalore because of whom I can hope to make some progress in spirituality. I thank my wife who enthusiastically proposed to visit Hampi. I thank my friend Sudeep Nakhe for helping me in organizing this trip and giving me some important tips about food and climate. I also thank the people of Hampi and Anegundi villages.

References
1. Spiritual India Handbook, Stephen Knap, Jaico publishing house, 2011 (English).
2. Valmiki Ramayana Volume 1 and 2, Geeta press, Gorakhpur (Sanskrit, Hindi).

Arrival of Lord Tirunarayana:
The temple of Lord Tirunarayana (Vishnu) is the main temple of Melkote town. This temple is situated at the base of Yadugiri hill. How the deity of Lord Tirunarayana came here is a very interesting fact. Lord Brahma, who is a secondary creator of the universe, wanted to have a deity of Lord Vishnu for worship. Lord Brahma performed austerities to obtain the deity of Lord Vishnu. When his austerities were successful, the deity of Lord Vishnu appeared before Lord Brahma in a beautiful celestial plane. This deity of Lord Vishnu is known as Lord Tirunarayana. Lord Brahma worshipped this self-manifested deity for a long time in Brahmaloka, which is one of the highest planetary systems in the universe. Later, Lord Brahma's son Sanatkumar requested his father to give him the deity of Lord Tirunarayana so that he could worship the Lord. Lord Brahma then gave the deity to Sanatkumar who brought it to this planet and installed it in Melkote for the benefit of masses. In this way Lord Tirunarayana came to Melkote and today He is present in His temple which is situated in the town.

Arrival of Lord Ramapriya:
There is another deity of Lord Vishnu which is known as Ramapriya. This deity is present in the temple of Lord Tirunarayana itself. This deity is a utsava murty, which is taken out of the temple for procession during the days of festivals.

When Lord Brahma gave the deity of Lord Tirunarayana to his son Sanatkumar, he once again performed austerities to obtain another deity of Lord Vishnu for his daily worship. This time Lord Vishnu manifested a very beautiful deity from His heart along with the deities of Shridevi (mother Lakshmi) and Bhudevi (mother Earth). This deity is known by two names. The first name is Shri Cheluvaraya Swami and the second name is Ramapriya. In this article we will refer to this deity by its second name Ramapriya because it is easy to remember and pronounce. These deities were made of auspicious metals and they were worshipped by Lord Brahma in Brahmaloka.

Later in the times of Ramayana, Lord Rama came back to Ayodhya after defeating daemon Ravana. At that time, a deity of Lord Ranganath was present in Ayodhya and it was being worshipped by Lord Rama and His family. Lord Rama made Vibhishana the king of the golden city of Lanka and instructed him to go to Lanka and rule there. Lord Rama gave Vibhishana the deity of Lord Ranganath so that he can take it to Lanka. But on the way to Lanka, the deity of Lord Ranganath decided to stay at Srirangam and it can still be found there. Because of these happenings, Lord Rama did not have any deity of Lord Vishnu for His daily worship. Seeing this situation, Lord Brahma gave the deity of Ramapriya along with Shridevi and Bhudevi to Lord Rama. Because these deities were very dear to Lord Rama, they are known as Ramapriya. Lord Rama worshipped these deities with great love and opulence. Later, Lord Rama's son Kusha worshipped these deities. Kusha's daughter Kanakamalini was married to Yadushekhara of Yadu dynasty and she took Ramapriya with her. In this way the deity of Ramapriya came from the Solar dynasty of Lord Rama into the Lunar dynasty in which Lord Krishna and Balarama appeared later.

In the times of Mahabharata, Lord Krishna and Balarama used to worship Ramapriya in their house. Once Balarama came to south India on pilgrimage. When he visited Lord Tirunarayana in Melkote, He found that the deity of Lord Tirunarayana is strikingly similar to the deity of Lord Ramapriya in their house. When He came back home, He told Shri Krishna about this similarity. After this incidence, Krishna and Balarama brought the deity of Ramapriya to Melkote and installed it here. Today, this deity is also situated in the temple of Lord Tirunarayana. Lord Krishna and the members of Yadu family often visited Melkote to worship this deity. Therefore Melkote is also known as Yadugiri.

In this way, the two ancient deities namely Lord Tirunarayana and Ramapriya are still present in the town of Melkote in the same temple.

Melkote lost in the sands of time:
After Lord Krishna left this planet and the age of Kali started, the spiritually vibrant atmosphere of Melkote was greatly affected by the forces opposing the religious principles. Melkote suffered attacks of foreign invaders who plundered the wealth of the temples. During these hard times, the temple of Lord Tirunarayana was lost and the area of the Melkote town was eventually covered by thick cover of forest. The deity of Lord Tirunarayana was covered under ground and the knowledge of its existence and whereabouts was lost to human kind. The deity of Ramapriya was taken by the foreign invaders as a loot from the temple and the knowledge about this deity was also lost. The spiritual significance of Melkote was hidden from the human society for a long time. In the 11th century AD, one of the great spiritual masters of India, Shripad Ramanujacharya, re-established the temple of Melkote. Now we will review a fascinating historical account of how Ramanujacharya found the lost deities and re-established a spiritual glory of Melkote.

Ramanujacharya's archaeological discovery of Lord Tirunarayana:
Ramanujacharya was one the greatest spiritual masters of India. He was mainly stationed in Srirangam but due the persecution of Lord's devotees started by the King of that region, Ramanuja had to leave Srirangam. After travelling to many places, he reached a place called Tondanur. The king named Bittideva used to rule that region. He was a follower of a Jain philosophy but after Ramanuja released the king's daughter from the control of evil spirits, the king became an ardent disciple of Ramanujacharya and changed his name to Vishnuvardhana.

In the year 1090 AD, Ramanuja was running short of a white sand required by devotees to put a holy mark on their forehead. One night, Lord Tirunarayana came into the dream of Ramanuja and told him that He is very near in the town of Melkote. Lord instructed Ramanuja to go to Melkote and find the deity of Lord Tirunarayana as well as the white sand required by him.

Ramanuja was extremely happy to have this revelation. He sent the message to Vishnuvardhana telling him about his arrival at Melkote as well as the divine revelation. Vishnuvardhana engaged many men to clear the forest around Melkote for the search of the deity. On the first day after Ramanuja reached Melkote, they were unsuccessful in finding the deity as well as the location of white sand.

On that night, Lord Tirunarayana again appeared in Ramanuja's vision and gave him the specific directions for finding the deity. Lord told him that He was situated under a big ant-hill which was located between a Champaka tree and Vakula tree near the south-west corner of a water pond named Kalyani. Lord also told Ramanuja that the sacred white sand was located near the north-west corner of the same Kalyani pond.

Ramanuja immediately followed the direction given by Lord and found the ant-hill. Ramanuja and his disciples removed the earth and found the deity of Lord Tirunarayana situated in its spiritual glory. Everyone present there was intoxicated with spiritual bliss after they found the Lord. Ramanuja then bathed the Lord with milk and made arrangements for the worship of the deity as well as the festivals that were to be observed. A temple was erected over the ant-hill and Lord Tirunarayana was thus reinstalled after the ages of oblivion. Ramanuja also found the sacred white sand near the north-west corner of the Kalyani pond. The Vedic scriptures explain that this Kalyani pond was formed by the drops of water which fell here when Lord Varaha was carrying mother Earth. Also the sacred white sand was brought here by Garuda from the planet named Shweta Dweepa where Lord Vishnu resides.

Ramanuja's discovery of Ramapriya:
After the revitalization of the town of Melkote, Ramanuja wanted to have an utsava murty in the temple of Lord Tirunarayana. Ramanuja was continuously thinking about how to accomplish this task. One day, Lord Tirunarayana appeared in the vision of Ramanuja and told him, "My utsava murty named Ramapriya is in Delhi inside the house of the Turkish king. Please go there and reclaim the deity of Ramapriya from the king."

Following Lord's order, Ramanuja travelled all the way to Delhi on foot with some of his disciples. When Ramanuja visited king, he requested the king to return the deity of Ramapriya. King told Ramanuja that he had plundered thousands of deities from all over India and showed him his collection of these deities. Ramanuja wanted the deity of Ramapriya alone, but he could not identify the required deity. That night, when Ramanuja was anxiously thinking about how to find Ramapriya, Ramapriya Himself appeared in his vision and told him, "I am with the king's daughter. She plays with me treating me as her husband and I also reciprocate with her in that way. Please come and find me there."

Next day, Ramanuja visited the king and told him about the vision. The king was very much impressed with this revelation and he also developed a respect and adoration for Ramanuja although the king was the follower of Islam. The king took Ramanuja to the inner chambers of his palace where no other man was allowed to enter. Ramanuja saw that king's daughter had placed Ramapriya on a couch. Ramanuja then called Ramapriya by his name and asked him to come towards him. The deity of Ramapriya then jumped down from the couch and walked towards Ramanuja and sat in his lap. The king also witnessed this most astonishing incident and honoured Ramanuja with many gifts.

When king's daughter came to know that Ramapriya was about to be taken away from her, she could not bear the separation from Lord Ramapriya. She had developed a deep love for Ramapriya. She requested her father to allow her to go with Ramapriya to Melkote. King happily gave the permission and sent his daughter with Ramanuja along with untold amount of wealth and gifts. The king told Ramanuja, "Your Lord Ramapriya does not go alone but with a wife. Please take care of her." After reaching Melkote, Ramanuja arranged a wedding ceremony between Ramapriya and king's daughter. She served the Lord in Melkote till the end of her days. Today her temple can be found on the top of Yadugiri hill where she is known as Beebi Nachiyar.

Personally I feel that Lord's marriage with king's daughter is one of the most astonishing event. From this event, we learn that Lord sees only the devotion and love of His devotee. He does not care whether the devotee is born in a family of Hindus or Muslims etc.  

The temple:
The temple which houses Lord Tirunarayana as well as Lord Ramapriya is situated in the Melkote town. It also houses the deity of goddess Yadugiri Amma who is the consort of Lord Tirunarayana. She is situated at the feet of Lord Tirunarayana. The temple also houses the deity of goddess Shri Cheluvanayaki who is the consort of Lord Ramapriya. Goddesses Shridevi and Bhudevi sit on the two sides of Lord Ramapriya. All these deities are extremely beautiful and well decorated. The look on the faces of the deities is so compassionate that we will be very assured of the protection of devotees by Lord and His consorts. On the walkways inside the temple there are deities of Shri Sudarshana Alwar, Ramanujacharya  and Anjaneya. The current temple was built in the time of Ramanuja (11th century AD). Kings of Mysore have contributed many later additions to the temple.

The Yoga Narasimha temple:
The temple of Lord Narasimha is situated on the top of the Yadugiri hill. As Lord Narasimha is sitting in a yogic posture, this deity is known as Yoga Narasimha. In the Satya Yuga, Prahlada, a great devotee of Lord, engaged in the meditation on Lord Narasimha on this hill. As a result he received this deity of Lord Narasimha which he installed here. Therefore this temple is also very ancient. The details about the life of Prahlada can be found in Bhagavat Purana as well as many other Vedic scriptures.

The jewelled crown of Ramapriya:
One of the most precious items present in the Melkote is a jewelled crown of Lord Ramapriya. The deity of Lord Ramapriya wears this crown only for a few days in the year. The story of this jewelled crown is also very interesting. Once Prahlada's demoniac son Virochana visited Lord Vishnu and saw that Lord Vishnu was in meditative trance. Virochana saw the opportunity and stole a jewelled crown which Lord Vishnu was wearing. He took this crown and went to the lower planetary systems of the universe. The devotees of Lord requested Garuda, who serves Lord Vishnu as his bird carrier, to go and retrieve the crown. Garuda then went to lower planetary systems and after fighting with Virochana, took possession of the crown. On the way back, He saw Krishna playing with his cowherd friends in Vrindavana. Garuda understood that Lord Krishna is non other than Lord Vishnu and surrendered the crown to Krishna. Krishna decorated the deity of Ramapriya with this crown and it came to Melkote when Krishna brought Ramapriya to Melkote.

Other holy places of Melkote: Melkote is surrounded by many other holy places and holy water ponds. Many spiritually significant events took place at these places. These places are listed in Table 1 and Table 2 along with their brief description.

Holy places in Melkote

1. Paridhanashila Kshetra -- A place where Dattatreya taught Vedas to His students. Also Ramanuja gave up his white clothes and received safron robes here. Located on the banks of Veda Pushkarini pond.
2. Yoga Narasimha Kshetra -- A place on the top of the hill where Prahlada received the deity of Lord Narasimha.
3. Dnyana Ashwattha Kshetra -- A Peepal tree under which five great intellectuals named Shuka, Pundarika, Rukmangada, Ambarisha and Prahlada attained the spiritual realization. Located near the west bank of Kalyani pond.
4. Taarkshya Kshetra -- A place located near Kalyani pond. Garuda brought sacred white sand from Shweta Dweepa and stored it here by the order of Lord Vishnu. This sand is still available.
5. Nayana Kshetra -- Located in the row of hills near Yadugiri. The deity of Lord Keshava is present here. A Brahmin called Vishnuchitta performed austerities here.
6. Varaha Kshetra -- Located on the east bank of Kalyani pond. At this place, Lord Varaha taught issence of Vedic knowledge to Bhudevi (mother Earth) who was sitting on Lord's lap. 7 Seeta Aranya Kshetra Located on the southern entrance of Kalyani pond where Lord Rama stayed along with mother Seeta and Lakshmana.

Holy water ponds in Melkote

1. Veda Pushkarini -- A place where Dattatreya taught Vedas to His students.
2. Yadava Teertha River --  Yadavi flows by the side of this pond. A king named Yadavendra performed Yoga on its banks and attained liberation.
3. Palasha Teertha --  A pond surrounded by many Palasha trees. Sons of sage Vasishtha were released from the curse they had got from sage Vishwamitra after bathing in this pond.
4. Darbha Teertha --  Dattatreya used a Darbha grass grown on the banks of this pond. Shandilya lecured on Pancharatrika system of worhip at this place.
5. Padma Teertha -- Sanatkumar used lotus flowers of this pond for worhipping Lord Tirunarayana.
6. Maitreya Teertha -- Sage Parashara preached Vishnu Purana to sage Maitreya at this place. Also known as Parashara Teertha.
7. Narayana Teerth -- a Located in Nayana Kshetra where Lord Narayana blessed a Brahmin called Vishnuchitta.
8. Vaikuntha Ganga --  A pond foemed from the drop of Viraja river which flows in the spiritual world.
9. Dhanushkoti -- A place where Lord Rama shot arrows into the rock to bring out the water for mother Seeta for bathing.

Our Pilgrimage:
We visited Melkote on 17 February 2013 along with 35 students from Indian Institute of Science as well as the senior members of Bhaktivedanta Institute Bangalore. After reaching Melkote we visited the temple of Lord Tirunarayana and paid obeisances to the deities. Then we climbed on the Yadugiri hill to visit the temple of Yoga Narasimha.  While climbing the hill we sang the holy names of Lord accompanied by the musical instruments such as Mridanga and Kartal. After praying to Lord Narasimha, we performed Sankirtan on the top of the hill for some time. The view of Melkote town from the hill-top is very beautiful. The spiritual atmosphere was so vibrant that everybody was totally immersed in the bliss. After coming down from the hill, we visited Kalyani pond. Although due to timing constraints we could not visit all the holy places in Melkote, this spiritual trip was one of the most memorable trip of my life.

Conclusion:
From the histories of Lord Tirunarayana and Ramapriya, we understand that these deities are not different from Lord Vishnu Himself. Therefore we should not take these deities to me mere sculptures made of stone and metal. These deities have all the opulence and power of Lord Vishnu Himself.

One has to possess a great fortune to have the faith in our ancient Vedic literature. A person who does not have such fortune is generally very quick to question the authority and accuracy of Vedic literature. But the places like Melkote are the witnesses to the ancient historical accounts mentioned in the Vedic literature. Today's historians may be entirely dependent on different stone markings and documents for knowing about the events that occurred few centuries ago. But Vedic literatures are our only reliable source if we wish to learn about the historical and spiritual events that happened millions of years ago, even the events that occurred just after our universe was created. I hope that the history of Melkote will help one to develop at least some amount of appreciation for our ancient books.

Lastly I note that the large number of events that occurred in Melkote may cause a confusion in the mind of reader. It may not be possible to comprehend everything written in this essay in one reading. Therefore I request the readers to contact me if they have any queries about this article. I will be pleased to clarify their doubts as far as possible.

I do not wish to call myself the author of this article as it may result in unnecessary pride. Such pride will be an additional obstacle in my spiritual journey because my mind is already filled with many filthy thoughts. I am totally dependent on the mercy of Lord Krishna and His devotees for protection of my spiritual progress. I request all the Vaishnavas to accept this essay as a humble offering at the feet of Lord although it is full of imperfections.

References:
1. Melkote An Introduction, Haripriya, Samskriti Publications, 2011.
2. The life of Bhagavad Ramanujacharya, Alkondaville Govindacharya, Jeeyar Educational Trust, 2006.
3. Spiritual India Handbook, Stephen Knapp, Jaico publishing house, 2011.
4. Mystical Melkote, Swami B. V. Giri, Gaudiya Touchstone Issue 4, January 2013.

Acknowledgements:
I thank Bhaktivedanta Institute, Bangalore for organizing a wonderful trip to Melkote. I thank the scholars of IISc Bangalore for enthusiastically participating in this trip. I thank my friend Prof. Arulalan for gifting me a book mentioned in reference 1. I also thank my friend Tamilarasan who took wonderful pictures of Melkote. Finally I thank all the readers of this blog for constantly encouraging me through their kind words.

Srirangapatna is a town which houses a very ancient temple of Lord Ranganath (Krishna). This town is situated on a big island formed in a holy river Kaveri. The huge deity of Lord Ranganath is not made by the hands of men, as many of us might think. The deity of Lord Ranganath is self manifested. How Lord Ranganath appeared in Srirangapatna and how His temple was established here is a very interesting historical account which involves river Kaveri as well as sage Gautama.

Birth of river Kaveri: Let us start with knowing little more about river Kaveri. In ancient times, there was a sage named Kavera. He was performing penances for spiritual advancement in Himalayan mountains. Pleased by his efforts, Lord Brahma, the secondary creator of the universe, appeared before him and relayed a message given to him by Lord Vishnu. Lord Brahma told sage Kavera that Kavera will have a daughter who will be none other than Vishnumaya, Lord Brahma's own daughter. She will expand herself in two forms. In one form, she will flow as a holy river and in other form she will become famous as Lopamudra. Because of having such an extraordinary daughter, who will be able to purify even the greatest sinners, Kavera will become totally purified and attain the lotus feet of Lord. In due coarse of time, a daughter was born to sage Kavera and was thus named as a Kaveri. 

Kaveri comes to south India: When Kaveri attained proper age, Lord Brahma instructed sage Agastya to approach sage Kavera and ask his daughter Kaveri in marriage. When Agastya approached sage Kavera, Kavera accepted the proposal of marriage between Kaveri and Agastya. Before marriage, Kaveri divided herself into two parts. By one part, she entered the earthen pot of sage Agastya in the form of water, and by second part she appeared as lady Lopamudra. Then the marriage ceremony of sage Agastya and Lopamudra was performed by the assembly of demigods. In due coarse of time, sage Agastya came to south India along with his wife. He also took with him the water form of Kaveri in his earthen pot.

Kaveri flows as a river: Once Lord Brahma came to the Sahyadri mountains (Western Ghats) and found Lord Vishnu situated there in the form of Amalaka tree. He wanted to worship Lord Vishnu and therefore brought the waters of Viraja river to wash Lord Vishnu's feet. Viraja river flows in the spiritual world, therefore its waters are very pure as they are always in touch with Lord's body. The waters of Viraja river which were used by Brahma to wash Lord Vishnu's feet started flowing as stream. At that time, Lord Vishnu instructed river Kaveri to flow out of the earthen pot and mix with the waters of Viraja river. Thus instructed by Lord Vishnu, Kaveri joined the pure waters of Viraja and started flowing as a river. When sage Agastya realized that Kaveri has flown out as a river, he became extremely happy and instructed Kaveri about the coarse she should take while flowing towards the Eastern ocean.
Appearance of Lord Ranganath: River Ganga is considered the holiest river of all the rivers as she directly touches the feet of Lord Vishnu. River Yamuna is considered the most fortunate because of her intimate association with Lord Krishna. Both these rivers as well as most of the places where Lord performed His activities are in North India. River Kaveri is situated in South India, quite away from these places. River Kaveri also wanted to have the intimate association of Lord like other fortunate rivers. Therefore, in order to please Lord, river Kaveri performed severe austerities in the area of Srirangapatna. When Lord Vishnu was pleased by the austerities of Kaveri, He appeared before her and blessed her with benedictions. Lord Vishnu was so pleased with Kaveri that He gave her the status of the holiest river. He also told her that Srirangapatna will become the holy place and He Himself will take residence in Srirangapatna to reside in Kaveri's lap. Kaveri was thus immensely blessed by Lord Vishnu. Then Lord manifested His deity on the island of Srirangapatna in a secret location. How Lord arranged for His deity to be found is another interesting historical account.

Lord Ranganath found: By Lord's arrangement, once there was a great famine in the country. Most of the water resources were exhausted and different hermitages of sages became devoid of all the natural resources like water, fruits, milk and grains. Therefore sages who were living in those hermitages had to leave in search of water. These sages  arrived at the banks of river Godavari and saw a beautiful hermitage of sage Gautama. Sage Gautama happily welcomed all the sages. For making proper arrangements to fulfil the daily requirements of the sages, sage Gautama planted large amount of fields and plants to produce grains, fruits etc. along the banks of Godavari. Seeing the extraordinary opulence of Gautama's hermitage as well as it's serene setting, the visiting sages became envious and the thought of taking possession of this hermitage by driving out sage Gautama took hold in their minds. On one fine morning, all these visiting sages conspired to fulfil their desire and produced a mystic cow which started grazing in the fields planted by Gautama. When Gautama saw this cow destroying all the crops, he instructed his disciples to drive the cow out of the fields. When the disciples started chasing the cow, the cow mysteriously ran towards sage Gautama and fell dead at his feet. All the visiting sages then accused Gautama of killing the cow, which is one of the greatest of the sins (killing a cow is considered equal to killing one's own mother). The visiting sages asked Gautama to immediately leave the hermitage and go on a pilgrimage to purify himself of the sin of killing a cow.

Sage Gautama was extremely disturbed by these happenings. By his mystic powers, he realized the plot conspired by the cruel sages. Gautama cursed these unqualified sages that they will become averse to Vedic teachings. After cursing them, Gautama left his hermitage and went on a pilgrimage. During the course of his pilgrimage, he reached Srirangam in Tamilnadu and started worshipping Lord Ranganath who is residing there (this deity of Lord Ranganath is also self manifested). There Lord Ranganath appeared before Gautama and told him that in Srirangam He is being worshipped by Vibhishana, Ravana's younger brother. Lord told Gautama that He has already manifested Himself on the island of Srirangapatna in a secret location and instructed him to proceed towards Srirangapatna.

On receiving this instruction, Gautama came and established his hermitage in Srirangapatna. One day, when Gautama was teaching his disciples about the history of Srirangapatna, other great sages like Parashara, Bodhayana, Yajnavalkya, Atri, Kanva, Shuka also came to his hermitage. Gautama was overjoyed by their arrival. All these sages organized a grand Vedic sacrificial ceremony for the satisfaction of Lord Ranganath. When the ceremony was successfully completed, Lord Ranganath personally appeared before the sages and revealed the location of the deity of Lord. The huge deity of Lord Ranganath was to be found in the dense Tulasi forest under a particular anthill. After this great revelation, sages headed by Gautama entered the Tulasi groove and found the anthill. Gautama then summoned the different demigods, who descended there from their heavenly realms. They had brought a celestial cow called Kamadhenu with them. Sages then poured the milk of Kamadhenu on the anthill. When anthill was thus dissolved, a huge and beautiful deity of Lord Ranganath emerged. Lord was lying on the bed of huge five hooded serpent called Anantashesh. Lord was peacefully lying in a meditative trance. The feet of Lord were placed in the lap of Kaveri who was serving Lord's feet.

The form of the Lord is so beautiful that Gautama and Lord Brahma praised the Lord by spontaneously composing beautiful poems for a long time. Pleased by their prayers, Lord Ranganath gave them a benediction that Srirangapatna will also be known by a name Gautama Kshetra and the temple of Lord Ranganath will be always worshipped by the name Brahmananda Vimana. Then sage Narada instructed Gautama in the Pancharatrika system of deity's worship which then Gautama started following for worshipping Lord Ranganath in the temple. The day on which these incidences happened is still celebrated as Sriranga Jayanti (the day of appearance of Lord Ranganath). When Lakshmi Devi, the wife of Lord Ranganath, saw these wonderful pastimes of Lord Ranganath, she also came to Srirangapatna and took bath in Kaveri river. After worshipping her Lord Ranganath, she also appeared here in the beautiful deity form and became known as Ranganayaki.

The Temple: The temple of Lord Ranganath is very beautiful and spacious. It houses the deity of Lord Ranganath as well as Lakshmi Devi (Ranganayaki). There are other beautiful deities of Lord Narasimha, Garuda and Venugopal. The original shrine is established by sage Gautama. Later many great kings and administrators have added and expanded the temple over the period of many centuries. In the 11 century AD, the king of Karnataka, formerly known as Bitti Deva, became disciple of Ramanujacharya and later became famous as king Vishnuvardhana. He made valuable contributions towards expanding and reinforcing the temple, its walls as well as the fort surrounding the temple. Later Muslim rulers took possession of the temple and made many valuable donations towards the temple. Especially king Hyder Ali, father of Tipu Sultan, was a devotee of Lord Ranganath and made many valuable additions to the temple.

Our Pilgrimage: After one independent but failed attempt of visiting Srirangapatna, this time Lord Ranganath allowed me to see Him along with the devotees of Lord connected with Bhaktivedanta Institute as well as  28 scholars of Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. We left Bangalore in the morning 7:00 am and reached Srirangapatna around 12:00 noon. We visited Aprameya Swami temple in Mallur on the way. After having a beautiful  darshan of Lord Ranganath, mother Ranganayaki as well as other deities in the temple, I felt a spiritual bliss in my heart. My happiness was further enhanced when we went to Gosai Ghat on the banks of Kaveri. The divine atmosphere in the Srirangapatna town and the natural beauty surrounding it is a unique combination. The crystal clear, tasty and soothing waters of Kaveri is something which gives complete satisfaction to the heart. We sang Lord's holy names on the banks of Kaveri. We also witnessed a beautiful dance performed by a peacock on one of the small islands formed in the river. This pilgrimage gave me opportunity to develop friendship with many people who were new to me. At 5:00 pm in the evening, we started our return journey. Thoughout the journey we played games based on the scriptures like Ramayana and Mahabharata. It is one of the pilgrimages which I will remember for a very long time.

Lesson in atmospheric sciences: It is very much clear from the history of river Kaveri that the present state of atmospheric and oceanic sciences does not completely describe the origin of rivers, especially a holy river like Kaveri. From Vedic scriptures, we understand that there is a presiding deity behind each and every river. Moreover, as we learned, the coarse taken by the river is not randomly decided. In case of Kaveri, the coarse of the river was suggested by sage Agastya and followed as such by Kaveri. From the history related above, we can conclude that the atmospheric and geographic events are not random or just due to the changes in pressure and temperature. They are conducted under the control of powerful sages and celestial beings working under the direction of Supreme Lord.

Conclusion: The spiritual and historical significance of Srirangapatna is beyond the description of words uttered by an insignificant person like me. Currently the real history of Srirangapatna related to Lord Ranganath has become distorted because most of the books and internet resources focus on the invasion of Srirangapatna by British army and its unsuccessful defence by Tipu Sultan. It is my hope that this essay sheds enough light on the main topic of history of Srirangapatna.

I feel that Lord Ranganath as well as river Kaveri are the blessings which are not deserved by the Kaliyuga people like us. They are still available for our purification due to the unlimited mercy of Lord Ranganath and His devotees. I pray to Lord Ranganath for giving me ability to somehow remember His beautiful form.

I am not supposed to be a person who should be writing this article because I have no sufficient qualification for this task. I am daring to do this anyway just so that somehow my mind will be engaged in the thoughts about Lord and his great devotees. I seek forgiveness from the readers for the mistakes or imperfections present in this essay. I offer this essay as a gift at the feet of merciful devotees of Lord. I request them to pass on this gift to the feet of Lord because I cannot do so directly.

References:

1. Sri Ranganath Swami Mandir, S. Narasimha Rangan, AVV Compugraphics, Mysore (Hindi booklet that can be obtained in the Ranganatha temple).
2. The Gaudiya visit to Srirangapatna, Subha Krishna Dasa, article found at http://www.purebhaktibangalore.com/content.php?pageID=38
3. Sri Tula Puranam (English translation of Sri Tula Kaveri Mahatmyam), P. R. Kannan, found at thanjavurparampara.com/pdf/Sri-Tula-Puranam.pdf

I will try to briefly narrate the events that led to the self manifestation of Lord's deity in Machilipatnam. Bhakta Narasimha was born in the year 1889. He was the devotee of Lord Krishna since his childhood. His childhood was quite troublesome because he lost his mother when he was nine and he had to take the responsibility of the family because of his early marriage at the age of twelve. After recouping from a serious illness at the age of eighteen, he decided to make a pilgrimage to Tirupati. On the way to Tirupati, he visited Machilipatnam for meeting a relative and ended up in staying there itself. In Machilipatnam, he started a business and earned a large sum of money. Six years later, he completed his unfinished pilgrimage to Tirupati.

Due to constant listening to the holy books such as Bhagvad Geeta, Shrimad Bhagavatam and Bhakta Vijaya, he developed detachment from the worldly materialistic life and became more serious about the spiritual life. He started a free food distribution program for the poor people, but initially it did not receive a good response and the program was stopped. Later he decided to start the free food distribution again, but this time he sent a formal letter of invitation to Lord Panduranga in Pandharpur. In that letter, he requested Lord to attend the food distribution festival along with His consorts Rukmini, Radha and Satyabhama. This time the program was very successful and Narasimha had to pray to Lord Panduranga for His mercy because he was worried about how to feed the thousands of people who were coming to have food. Lord answered his prayers and everybody was miraculously satisfied. After this incident, Narasimha became an ardent devotee of Lord Panduranga.

One night, a divine figure appeared in Narasimha's dream and told him to construct a temple for Lord Panduranga. The figure also told him that Lord Panduranga will self manifest here in Machilipatnam. After having this vision, Narasimha also had several more divine visions which encouraged him to become a serious devotee of Lord Panduranga. Due to these experiences, Narasimha decided to undertake a pilgrimage to Pandharpur in Maharashtra. When he reached Pandharpur, he met Mahipati Maharaj, who later became his spiritual master. Mahipati Maharaj gave a spiritual initiation to Narasimha and instructed him about the rules and regulations to be followed by the devotees of Panduranga. He also asked Narasimha to construct the shrines for Dnyanadev and Tukaram who are the great devotees of Lord Panduranga. He told Narasimha that by their blessings, he will be able to erect the temple for Lord Panduranga.

Next year Narasimha visited Pandharpur again. Apart from visiting Lord Panduranga and his spiritual master, he also wanted to collect some pebbles from the holy river Chandrabhaga. He wanted to use these pebbles in the ground breaking ceremony for the temple construction. But the river was flooded and it was very difficult to obtain  the pebbles. Seeing this difficulty, Narasimha very intensely prayed to the presiding deity of river Chandrabhaga to help him. After his prayers, very surprisingly, river waters near the bank made a small clearing and a patch of land was visible. Narasimha and Mahipati Maharaj went to that patch in a boat and found a special round stone which was shining like a gem. They collected this stone along with other pebbles and kept at the feet of Lord Panduranga. They saw that a flash of light emanated from the deity of Lord Panduranga and entered the round stone. After witnessing this miracle, Mahipati Maharaj became sure about Lords blessings on Narasimha and instructed him to start the construction of the temple immediately.

After coming back to Machilipatnam, Narasimha started the construction of the temple. In addition to the main temple for Lord Panduranga, he constructed many other small shrines for the great devotees of Lord like Hanuman, Ambarish, Prahlada and others. Here in Pandharpur, Lord Panduranga appeared in the dream of Mahipati Maharaj and told him the day on which he will appear in Machilipatnam. Delighted to have this vision, Mahipati Maharaj immediately dispatched a message to Narasimha, telling him about the day of Lord's appearance. Narasimha completed the construction of the temple well in time and started eagerly waiting for the day of Lord's appearance.

The news of Lord's self manifestation quickly spread in the surrounding villages like a fire and people from all the directions started coming in. The British government officials were also keeping a keen eye on these happenings as they suspected it to be some kind of plot against the government. Because of their suspicion, the government locked down the temple and kept a police guard around it. They also threatened to punish Narasimha if the things do not happen the way he was saying they will happen.

The day of Lord's appearance arrived. In the morning, Narasimha became almost like a mad man due the excitement as well as anxiety. He went to the shrine of Hanuman and prayed to him, asking him whether the Lord will really appear or not. Listening to his prayers, Hanuman assured him about Lord's appearance. Hanuman told Narasimha that if Lord does not appear as promised, he will personally go and bring the entire Pandharpur and place it here in Machilipatnam. Saints Tukaram and Dnyanadev also appeared in his vision and encouraged him. After this, Narasimha went in front of the closed door of the sanctum sanctorum and started offering intense prayers full of love, and requested Lord Panduranga for His mercy.

When Narasimha was about to loose his life due to the anxiety and intense feelings, a tumultuous sound came from inside the locked doors of the innermost chamber of the temple. Hearing this great sound, the government officials ordered to open the doors of the chamber. But in spite of all the efforts, the doors could not be opened. At that time, Bhakta Narasimha could see that the great saints Dnyanadev and Tukaram were installing the beautiful deity of Lord Panduranga and Sage Narada was offering the obeisances to the Lord. Lord then ordered the doors of the temple to be opened. The doors of the temple then opened on their own accord. Everybody present their saw a divine smoke coming out the temple. After the smoke cleared, a beautiful deity of Lord Panduranga emerged. The form of the Lord was exactly same as that in Pandharpur. All the devotees of Lord present at that time became mad with the happiness. Everybody sang the glories of the Lord for his unlimited mercy.

Since that time Lord Panduranga is present in Machilipatnam. Even today one can go there and see Lord's self manifested form and touch His lotus feet. We might have heard about many miracles which happened hundreds of years ago, but I am sure we have never heard of such a wonderful appearance of Lord Krishna in the modern times. This appearance of Lord gives us a great faith in Him and encourages us to engage ourself in the efforts for spiritual enlightenment without any doubt. This incidence also shows us that Lord's interaction with His devotees was never limited to just ancient times, it is never limited by time or place. If one wants to see Lord face to face, all one needs to do is develop a pure devotion to Lord.

The temple of Lord Panduranga in Machilipatnam is quite spacious and it is situated in the area called Chilakalapudi. Apart from the self manifested deity of Lord Panduranga, one can also find other interesting things in this temple. There is a sacred water pond named Chandrabhaga. The water of this pond is considered as holy and purifying as that of river Chandrabhaga at Pandharpur. Also we can find a sacred Peepal tree. This tree is one of the seven sacred trees found in the area. Once Bhakta Narasimha told his third son named Venkata-Ramana that a great sage is engaged in penances under this tree for many years. Narasimha also enabled his son to see this sage. Also in the temple complex, you will find 108 shrines for different devotees, shrines of Rukmini, Radha and Satyabhama as well as many others shrines.

I encourage everybody to visit Machilipatnam and take blessings of Lord Panduranga.

This article is far from complete. I have given just a glimpse of a history related to the events occurred here. I have hardly discussed a deeper aspects of life of Bhakta Narasimha because of whose purity and prayers Lord appeared here. A complete volume can be written on the historical and spiritual significance of these events. I beg forgiveness of all the readers for the mistakes and shortcomings of this essay. I offer this article at the feet of the devotees of Lord Krishna. Without their blessings my life is devoid of any inspiration.

Source of information
This information is given by the third son of Bhakta Narasimha who is currently the priest of the temple. The description of incidences mentioned here can also be found in British historical records