The Hindu month of Margazhi or Margashira is considered a holy month. It falls in winter between the months of December and January. Most devout Hindus visit temples and offer prayers during this 30-day period, known as Dhanur Maasa. Temples open in the early morning hours — around 4.30 am itself, much earlier than usual.
The Triranga Yatra or darshanam is unique to this period. As the name suggests, the darshanam involves visiting three Ranga temples on a single day — between dawn and dusk. Ranga here refers to Sri Ranganatha Swamy, the form of Lord Vishnu seen sleeping/reclining on a bed made by the Serpent God Adisesha. The three temples that form this holy trinity are located on islands created by the River Cauvery as it flows from Karnataka into Tamil Nadu.
The first one, Aadhi Ranga, is the Ranganathaswamy temple situated in Srirangapatna. The middle one, known as Madhya Ranga is located on the banks of the River Cauvery in Shivanasamudra. The last one, Anthya Ranga is the famous Ranganatha Swamy Temple in Srirangam, Tami Nadu.
We decided to save three to four hours of journey by driving down to Mysuru from Bengaluru the previous day itself and halting overnight in Mysuru.
As time was of utmost importance in this trip, we decided to have an early start and adhered to a strict schedule.
We spent a minimum amount of time on pit stops and bathroom breaks. We carried packed breakfast and had that as we drove. We picked routes that had good roads and were faster to drive on.
Mysuru to Srirangapatna
(17 kms – 30 minutes)
We set out on the Triranga yatra from Mysuru at 5 am. We covered the short distance of 17 km quickly. We offered early morning prayers to Aadhi Ranga and were back in our car by 6.15 am.
Srirangapatna to
Shivanasamudra
(80 kms – 1hr 30 minutes)
We then proceeded towards Shivanasamudra and reached the temple by 7.45 am. We went around the temple and paid our obeisance to Lord Ranganagatha who is known as Mohana Ranga (a youthful Lord Ranga). Again, we ensured we did not linger around too much and were back in the car by 8.20 am.
Shivanasamudra to Srirangam (300 kms - 7 hrs 30 minutes)
We started our long journey towards Srirangam. We had a couple of breaks on the way to stretch our cramped legs. Lunch was a quick affair — a thali meal that was served quickly and gobbled up even more quickly. We passed the towns of Namakkal, and Musiri before finally reaching Srirangam.
We crisscrossed the River Cauvery several times and finally drove right alongside it. We were inside the temple premises before 5 pm. The bedecked Lord Ranganatha in all his glory was a beautiful sight and we were extremely happy and grateful that we could accomplish the Brahmanada Darshanam in a single day.
The roads were good, the weather was fine — we did not face any hurdles and thus we could complete the total distance of 400 and odd kms from Mysuru to Shivanasamudram to Srirangam in good time — from the start, covering the middle and finally reaching the end of the Triranga yatra!