This is a mummified preserved body of Sri Ramanujacharya in sitting position. There is a place to sit and meditate next to the Samadhi. You can go into meditative states here effortlessly.
How to get there
The Samadhi is located at the South Eastern corner of Sri Ranganatha Swamy Temple premises. The temple is located 1 km west of Srirangam train station.
Map: https://goo.gl/maps/FzSFMZ6Wvnk4KoU79
About Sri Ramanujacharya
Ramanuja or Ilaya Perumal (as he was called in Tamil) was born in the year 1017 A.D. in the village of Perumbudur, located twenty-five miles west of Chennai. His father Somayaji passed away very early, and mother Kantimathi, a pious and virtuous lady, raised him alone. Ramanuja pursued the study of Vedas in Kanchipuram under Yadavaprakasha, a teacher of Advaita philosophy.
Later in his life, Srirangam Ramanujar became a philosopher, social reformer and a prominent name in the Sri Vaishnavism sect within Hinduism. This sect holds Goddess Lakshmi and Lord Vishnu with great reverence and dedicates their version of the Vedas to Lord Vishnu alone. Although the foundation of Vaishnavism was laid by another scholar, Periyanambi (Mahapurna), Ramanujacharya is said to be the exponent of the Vaishnava tradition within Hinduism. It is also believed that Ramanujacharya renounced his married life and became a priest at Varadaraja Perumal Temple at Kanchipuram. There Srirangam Ramanujar continued preaching about attaining moksha.
An interesting fact about Sri Ramanujacharya is that he was born in the Pingala year and also left the world in the Pingala year. It means that is he was present on earth for 120 years, which is the duration between two Pingala years. Ramanuja lived for two complete cycles of Tamil years.
According to the legends, Sri Ramanujacharya also performed several miracles. One such miracle occurred while his devotees in Sriperumpudur (Srirangam Ramanujar’s birthplace) were installing his idol in the temple. On an auspicious day, while they were doing the ‘pranpratistha’, Ramanujar himself was preaching to his disciples in Srirangam. Suddenly, he became as still and silent as a statue and came back to his usual self after some time. When a disciple asked him what happened, he replied, saying that his statue was being installed in Sriperumpudur. He had just visited his devotees in that village there while they were conducting the eye-opening ceremony. Sri Ramanujacharya’s idol in Sriperumpudur is known as Than Uganda Thirumeni. Such were his miracles performed on earth.
Ramanujar had revolted against the caste system and discrimination. He aided the hapless and untouchables and encouraged them to achieve spiritual enlightenment through the worship of Lord Vishnu. His motto was to include the lower caste and non-Brahmin within the society and involve them in the Vaishnava worship.
Ramanujacharya’s liberal views changed many rituals within the Srirangam temple. He also reformed the religious practices in the Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple to worship Sri Vishnu-Lakshmi. However, because of this, many attempts were made on his life. But Ramanujar’s divine power and unadulterated devotion to Lord Vishnu always protected him in such situations and even turned his enemies into disciples. In fact, it is said that his theories and philosophies have been influenced by poets and saints of the Bhakti Movement.
Sri Ramanujacharya is also said to have reinstated the idol of Govindaraja in Tirupati, which the Saivaite, Kulotthunga Chola, has initially thrown into the sea. Ramanujar was conferred with the title of Udayavar by Lord Nam Perumal himself. He then attained his Acharyan Thiruvadi (the lotus foot of his Acharya) in the Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple. He was the chief priest of the temple for twenty-five years and made it his headquarters. His body is presently mummified and preserved there.
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