Muslim Consort of Vishnu in Srirangam Temple

Here is an unusual story of the association of Vishnu with a Muslim woman as his divine consort and worship services offered to her in Srirangam, a major temple in Tamilnadu.

In the temple in Srirangam, one of the largest and most important in Tamilnadu, Vishnu is manifested as Ranganatha Swami in the reclining posture. There is also a painting of one "Tulukka Nachiar" (JYf;f ehr;rpahH) in a small shrine near the garbha-griha. Worship services are performed everyday in reverence to her in which the Lord Ranganatha is offered wheat bread, ghee and dhal for breakfast. (Tulukkar in Tamil means a Muslim, a word derived from "Turukiyar" or Turks, and Nachiyar is a term used in Tamil Vaishnava theology for the divine consort of the presiding deity). What follows is a fascinating story of how this practice came to be, a combination of history, legend and tradition.

When the first millennium of the Common Era was turning over to the second, Rajaraja Chola (985 - 1014 CE), the greatest of the Imperial Cholas was in power in Thanjavur in Tamilnadu. He established an empire which his son Rajendra Chola I (1012 - 1044 CE) expanded to include most of peninsular India, present day Orissa, Bihar, Bengal and Bangladesh and overseas possessions of present day Sri Lanka, the Malay peninsula, Indonesia and Thailand. Like other empires, this too did not last long. It began to disintegrate during the rule of Kulotthunga Chola (1071 - 1122 CE) and completely disappeared in 1279 CE when Rajendra Chola III lost the war with the Pandian king Maravarman Kulasekhara Pandian. That war brought most of what is the present day Tamilnadu under Pandian rule from their traditional capital at Madurai. After the death of the Pandian king in 1308 CE the succession struggle between his two sons (Jatavarman Sundara Pandian and Jatavarman Vira Pandian) reduced the kingdom to a state of civil war. Ultimately the prince Sundara Pandian, after loosing to his brother Vira Pandian, took a step that would radically change the history of Southern India for ever.

At this time the Muslims who had invaded India through the Northwest had established a Sultanate in Delhi and been ruling for over 100 years. They controlled most of northern India from Punjab to Bengal but they had not yet ventured into the South beyond the Vindhya mountains. The Primary revenue for the Sultanate rulers had been from raiding the temples, local rajas and chiefs in addition to whatever they could extract from the poor farmers. The loosing Pandian prince traveled to Delhi and requested that the Sultan help him gain back his kingdom in Madurai.

The ruling Sultan in Delhi at the time was Allaudhin Khilji, considered to be one of the worst tyrants of the Slave Dynasties. During his earlier raid into Gujarat he had come across a Hindu slave whom he was attracted to (the Sultan was a homosexual) and purchased him. The slave was taken to Delhi, converted to Islam, given the name "Kafur" and made a personal attendant to the Sultan. Over course of time the slave Kafur became a right hand man to the Sultan and eventually grew to be a general in his army known as Malik Kafur.

With the knowledge gained from the fugitive Pandian prince, Malik Kafur led the military expedition through the present day Karnataka to Madurai in 1311 CE. He plundered all the places with any kind of wealth along the way. (This would was followed by subsequent raids and the eventual establishment of an Islamic Sultanate in Madurai in 1330 CE during the reign of Sultan Muhammed bin Tughlak. Pandian rulers fled to southern end of their territory, ruled as local chieftains in Tenkasi and slowly disappeared from history. The Sultanate lasted until 1380 CE when it was defeated and Hindu rule established under the Vijayanagara Empire by Kumara Kampanna, the son of Bukka I, one of the cofounders of the empire).

Malik Kafur, on his way to Madurai stopped at Srirangam and plundered the temple. The temple establishment got the news of the expedition ahead of time and in their effort to save the worship Moorthi in the garbha graha (commonly known as moolavar) they covered the area with brick walls and made a confusing labyrinth inside the temple. Malik Kafur's army sacked Srirangam and the temple but did not find the garbha-griha. However, his army took away the Utsava Moorthi (smaller divine image used in festival processions) of Ranganatha made of gold along with other precious jewelry and valuables. His army also plundered other temples including those at Chidamparam and Madurai and returned to Delhi with untold wealth which even caused a temporary inflation in Delhi's economy. Upon viewing the loot, Sultan's daughter fell in love with the Utsavamoorthi of Ranganatha and kept it all for herself.

According to legend, one woman from Srirangam, not wanting to loose sight of the Utsavamoorthi, followed Malik Kafur's army all the way to Delhi and returned to Srirangam to inform temple authorities where it had ended up. For this she was given the name "woman who followed" (gpd;nrd;wty;yp). Guided by the woman, a team of parijanas (temple attendants) traveled to Delhi to bring back the Utsavamoorthi. After reaching Delhi, with the temple singers in the fore with their performance, they were able to please Sultan Khilji who offered them presents. The singers, refusing the presents, asked for the Utsava Moorthi of Ranganatha which the Sultan obliged. The devotees returned to Srirangam and resumed their ritual practices with whatever available resources.

Legend also has that the Sultan's daughter had fallen in love with the Utsavamoorthy (or Ranganatha?) and traveled all the way to Srirangam since she wanted to be close her beloved. She was known in Srirangam as Surathani, a corruption of "Sultani". Surathani died shortly after reaching the temple, supposedly at the feet of Ranganatha. (Her death would invite more raids from Delhi but that is the story for another day). She was accepted by the temple devotees as a divine consort of Ranganatha and is known as Thulukka Nachiyar. There is a shrine with the painting of Surathani in the temple as a standing testimony to this tradition. This tradition is preserved in a Telugu folk song called the "Surathani Kalyanamu".

This tradition has spread beyond Srirangam. During the annual Chithirai festival in Madurai, Kallalagar, a manifestation of Vishnu, travels to Madurai to attend the wedding of his sister Meenakshi to Lord Sundareswarar who are the presiding deities there. After crossing the nearby Vaigai river, tradition holds that he spends a night with Thulukka Nachiyar before he gets to the divine wedding function. The tradition is also present in the Thiru Narayana temple at Melukote in Karnataka where the Muslim princess is known as Bivi Nachiyar.