Tiruchirappalli

Tiruchirappalli (formerly Trichinopoly in English), also called Trichy, is a major tier II city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Tiruchirappalli's recorded history begins in the 3rd century BC, when it was under the rule of the Cholas. The city has also been ruled by the Mutharaiyars, Pandyas, Pallavas, Vijayanagar Empire, Nayak Dynasty, the Carnatic state and the British. The most prominent historical monuments in Tiruchirappalli include the Rockfort, the Ranganathaswamy temple at Srirangam and the Jambukeswarar temple at Thiruvanaikaval. The archaeologically important town of Uraiyur, capital of the Early Cholas, is now a suburb of Tiruchirappalli. The city played a critical role in the Carnatic Wars (1746–1763) between the British and the French East India companies.

Aerial view of Tiruchirapalli

Quotes

• It is said the town was originally known as Tirusirappally, named after the three-headed asura Tirusiras who got a blessing from Lord Shiva after worshiping him here. Trichy has three major attractions. One is the Rock Fort temple in the heart of the old city.... The legend of this deity, as explained in the Sri Ranga Mahatmya, is that when Brahma was in a state of deep meditation, Lord Vishnu, being pleased with him, gave him a deity of Himself, known as Ranga Vimana, a form of Vishnu reclining on Adisesha. As time went on, Brahma later gave the deity to Viraja, who later gave it to Manu, who passed it along to his son Ikshvaku, and finally to Lord Rama. Lord Rama, in gratitude to Vibhishan, the brother of the demon king Ravana of the Ramayana epic, gave him the deity. Vibhishan was returning to Sri Lanka from Ayodhya with the Vishnu deity that had been presented to him by Lord Rama. However, he had been told that if he should set the deity down on the ground, he would not be able to move it again. The gods were not pleased that the deity would be taken away from India and devised a plan to keep the deity in Bharat. Thus, when Vibhashan stopped at Sri Rangam to take bath and perform his worship on the banks of the Kaveri River, he gave the deity to a brahmana boy with instructions not to place it on the ground. But the boy, who was Lord Ganesh in disguise, placed it on the earth anyway. Then the deity became firmly fixed to the ground and could not be moved from the spot where it remains to this day. Vibhishan became angry and chased the boy who ran to the summit of the hill that is the Rock Fort today. There Vibhishan caught and struck the boy, who then revealed his real form and stood transformed as Vinayaka. Even though Vibhishan begged to apologize before going on to Sri Lanka, the image of Vinayaka still has a depression on his face where he had been struck. The area where the deity was set down gradually became covered by a thick forest. The deity was only discovered thousands of years later by a Chola king who accidently found it while chasing a parrot. It was the king who established the Sri Rangam temple, which is presently one of the largest temples in India.
  • Knapp Stephen, Spiritual India Handbook (2011)

• It is said that in ancient days Trichila, an execrable monster with three heads, who was a brother of Rawan, with ten heads, had the sway over this country. No human being could oppose him. But as per the saying of the Prophet, ‘Islam will be elevated and cannot be subdued’, the Faith took root by the efforts of Hazarat Natthar Wali. The monster was slain and sent to the house of perdition. His image namely but-ling worshipped by the unbelievers was cut and the head was separated from the body. A portion of the body went into the ground. Over that spot is the tomb of the Wali, shedding rediance till this day.
  • About the legend surrounding the tomb of Nathar Shah at Tiruchirapalli (Tamil Nadu). Bahãr-i-Ãzam, translated in English, Madras, 1960. p. 51.

• Shah Bheka when he was at Trichinopoly during the days of Rani Minachi, the unbelievers who did not like his stay there harassed him. One day when he was very much vexed, he got upon the bull in front of the temple, which the Hindus worship calling it swami, and made it move on by the power and strength of the Supreme Life Giver. They abandoned the temple and gave the entire place on the aruskalwa as present to the Shah.
  • Bahãr-i-Ãzam, translated in English, Madras, 1960. p. 63. quoted from Shourie, A., & Goel, S. R. (1993). Hindu temples: What happened to them.