Sri Ramanuja founded the way for a wholesome transformation in religion and his ideology is time-tested and well-founded, said Sri Ranga Narayana Jeer, Jeer of Srirangam, here on Saturday.
Inaugurating the exhibition of artwork on the life of Sri Ramanuja organised by the Karivaradan Kainkarya Sabha and Srirangam Educational Society at the Sriranganarayana Jeer Mutt at Srirangam, the Jeer said that Sri Ramanuja was a divine gift as he had codified an immortal philosophy.
V. Narasimhan, president of the sabha, said the objective of the expo, which contained about 30 artworks, was to imbibe values among the masses, particularly children, about the ethics. Apart from religious significance, the expo projected determination, grit, and ordeals which Sri Ramanuja had undergone.
The expo is self-explanatory as details of each and every anecdote had been appended below the artworks. It commences with a prayer (in the form of Puthrakameshti yagam) offered by the couple Somayaji and Kanthimathi (father and mother of Sri Ramanuja) at Sri Parthasarathy temple in Triplicane to be blessed with a child and concludes with the liberation (‘moksham’) in Srirangam.
The major incidents depicted include Sri Ramanuja’s escape from a plot on the Ganges, and his bold step of popularising “Om Namo Narayanaya” on the ramparts of the temple in Tirukoshtiyur. “The route map of Sri Ramanujar from Srirangam to Melkote and Ekkarai Uchi are the important features of the exhibition,” says Mr. Narasimhan.
One of the paintings relates the divine anecdote when Sri Ramanuja was safely escorted by the divine ‘hunter couple’ Sri Varadaraja Perumal and Sri Perunthevi Thayar from the thick forests to Kancheepuram (See picture).
It focuses on compassion and multi-sided virtues of Sri Ramanuja.
The Thondanur Eri built by Sri Ramanuja testifies his acumen for preventing wasteful drain of storm water into the sea.
The expo will be open till November 22, he said.