Ranganātha (
Tamil:
அரங்கநாதர்,
Sanskrit :
रङ्गनाथ) also known as
Sri Ranganatha,
Aranganathar,
Ranga and
Thenarangathan is a
Hindu deity, more well known in
South India, and the chief deity of the
Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple, Srirangam. The deity is a resting form of Lord
Vishnu, recumbent on the great form of the serpent god
Adisesha, one of the foremost of
Hindu Gods. His consort is Goddess
Lakshmi, also known as
Ranganayaki Thayar (mother in
Tamil). His two other consorts seen next to his recumbent figure are
Bhudevi and
Nila Devi. Most of the deities portray a 'smiling' lord in a reclining position over the celestial serpent
Adisesha in the sea of cosmic dissolution (
pralaya). This is the form in which he is open to listening to all of his devotee's woes, and blesses them. Apart from being worshipped by all Hindus, this form is of particular importance to the
Sri Vaishnava community. His name in
Tamil means "leader of the place of assembly", coined from two Tamil words 'Arangam' and 'Nathan'. This temple is of particular interest for scholars in the south because of the vast history attached to it in shaping the religion in the south. However, the lack of proper mention about this temple or Lord Vishnu as "resting on a bed of snake in an ocean of milk" in the "
Puranas", the
Vishnu Sahasranama or other Sanskrit texts pertaining to North India makes it a center of lesser importance in the north.