Srirangam Railway Station Does Not Match the Ethos of its Namesake Town

 

Srirangam Railway Station Does Not Match the Ethos of its Namesake Town

I do not know how the city, the fourth largest in the state of Tamil Nadu, Tiruchirappalli got its name. But, I do know why the Indian Railways train running between Chennai Egmore and the city is named Rock fort Express. Look at the picture below and you would understand it without anyone explaining it.

But, no such help is forthcoming for the suburb of Tiruchirappalli, Srirangam unless of course one takes recourse to the name of presiding deity of the suburb – Sriranganathar, Lord Vishnu reclining on the bed Sesha (a multi-headed serpent) which coils itself suitably for the comfort of the Lord has provided.

Here is where I see the incongruity between the train station and the town.

But before I detail the incongruence, I would like to point out a special feature of the entry edifice (this point onwards, it is gopuram) of the temple. These are majestic, most of them imposingly tall with a large entranceway (I have edited out the entrance to focus on a particular feature of the top level in the pictures this post carries).

 

 

As you take in the over populated (?) details in some of the gopurams (the third and the fourth), I would draw your attention to the “KALASAMS” aligned at the top.

These are, apparently, some sacerdotal features, which are the focus of re-anointing the temple as sacred, the duty falling exclusively on the ordained priests. I am sure none of my readers, as few as they are would have noticed the following:

Every temple gopuram has only an odd number of KALASAMS at the top. Not a single one carries an even number of KALASAMS. This might have been to make the anointing ceremony more focused, on the middle KALASAM, in a sense the primogeniture.

I have only one additional photo to show that makes the case for the heading of this post. The following photograph shows the entrance to the Srirangam Railway Station.

 

There are FOUR, count, only FOUR KALASAMS at the top, an even count, below the station name board in Hindi. This is NOT the culture of the community, no siree boss! The two kalasams on the side and offset slightly towards the rear do not help in this counting business, though they do not violate symmetry, another feature of all the gopurams shown!

Show me any temple gopuram carrying only four kalasams and I will show you one kalasam stolen/fallen down/broken down ... This just does not happen. The temple gopurams I have shown range from near north Tamil Nadu, to central and further south.

I do not know who the architect was, and I do not care to know either as I am not in the business of correcting egregious mistakes of others. I do not know whether this characteristic is carried on to eastern and northern regions. I would suspect it is.

If only a gopuram had to be shown, a 10:1 model of the top part could have been shown. The architect had her blinders on!

We keep talking about think global and do local. Srirangam Railway Station falls between the stools.

Sad.

Raghuram Ekambaram