Mean while the temple benefited from the rather ostentatious piety of the Pandyas: the king of Madurai, Jatavarman Sundara Pandya I (1251-1268), became famous for his many buildings in the temple, numerous embellishments and sumptuous gifts.

His inscriptions, favorably listed by the chronicle of the temple, give on to him the name of king that covered the temple with gold II (Hemachchadana raja). He built a sanctuary for the god Srirangam, the Lord of Ranga; a gopura dedicated to Vishnu Narasimha; a sanctuary for Vishvaksena; another sanctuary for Vishnu, three domes (vimana), and a large hall for preparing the sacred food.

 

All these buildings were covered in gold, as also was the wall (prakara) of the second enclosure. The king gave the temple an image of Adhi Sesha - the king of serpents, "who is the sofa of the Lord of Ranga"; a golden halo, a jewelled golden pedestal, a gold triumphal arch (makaratorana) decked with jewels lito shelter Ranga" and a gold image of the bird Garuda, the sacred mount of Vishnu. He covered Ranganatha with ornaments and jewels, and presented him with a garland of emeralds taken from the treasure of the king of Kataka (Cuttack, Orissa), a crown of jewels, a garland of pearls, a dais of pearls, a golden garment, a golden car, and golden vases and vessels. He inaugurated a parade for which he had a boat built in gold on the river Cauvery.

 

The chronicle of the temple adds the description of a particularly impressive offering the king had two boats built on the Cauvery on one he shipped the state elephant, and sat on its back; on the other he poured jewels and gold till it sank to the same water-line as the first boat. He then donated the mass of gold and precious stones to the treasure of the temple. The same chronicle recounts that he had an image of the god cast in gold, in his own likeness and bearing his own name.

Jatavarman Sundara Pandya

In this way Jatavarman Sundara Pandya Ist achieved at Srirangam every kind of offering to the god, including the two principal ones which identified him with the divinity: a statue of an apotheosis, representing the god but bearing the name of the king; and an offering to the god of the king's weight in gold and jewels. It should be noted that the latter is described by the chronicle in superlative terms.

It may be worth recalling that nearly 25 years later (1292), in the reign of King Maravarman Kulasekhara Pandya (1268-1308), Marco Polo was struck by the splendour and opulence of this region. Shortly afterwards, in 1311, the Muslim Malik Kafur seized Madurai, and the Pandya dynasty collapsed. In the turmoil which befell the Carnatic the temple of Srirangam was captured by the Muslims.

Malik Kafur

In 1311 Malik Kafur carried out a lightning raid. It is probable that the srirangam temple was sacked, and the statues and treasures carried off to Delhi; the chronicle states that new statues were then cast and installed in the place of the stolen ones. Worship was restored(1). In 1323 came the turn of Mahomed b. Tughlak (13251351), then heir-presumptive. According to Ibn Battuta, an Arab traveller who visited India in 133'3, Mahomed b. Tughlak' s taste for the magnificent was matched only by his cruelty. He invaded the surrounding country and took Madurai as his capital. The temple of Srirangam was then occupied by the Muslims and transformed into a fortified camp. But this time the statues, some of the jewels from the treasure, and the necessary articles for worship were saved before the invasion, and transported to Tirupati where they remained until 1371.

In that year resistance was organized in the south, with Vijayanagar as its centre. The Vijayanagar armies reconquered the region and liberated the Srirangam temple . The statues of the gods, exiled at Tirupati, were restored, and rich benefactors, princes, dignitaries and officials presented the temple with land and villages. The work of restoration continued for a long time, and the temple received many munificent endowments until the collapse of the Hindu kingdom of Vijayanagar.

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