The legacy of Ranganatha Swamy has it that the main idol was worshipped by Lord Brahma and then was presented to the King of Gods, Indra. He, in turn, handed over to Lord Rama as a gift on the occasion of the latter’s return to Ayodhya after 14 years of exile. During his pattabhishekam, the grand ceremony of crowning of a King, Lord Rama, in turn gifted the idol to Vibhishana, who had helped in the war with Demon King Ravana. Vibhishana requested Lord Rama to gift him the idol of Lord Ranganatha Swamy and humble Lord conceded to the request. It was clearly indicated that Vibhishana must not place it on the ground, but apparently, on way back to Lanka, Vibhishana happened to halt at Srirangam. He had to take out the idol from the royal chariot called as Ranga Vimana and placed it on the ground. Thereafter, the idol is said to have fixed to ground where Vibhishana left it. The temple was then religiously maintained by Ikshvaku kings and his successors. In early 17th century, the rulers of Madurai happened to make Tiruchirapalli as their capital and the resident Vaduladesikas of Srirangam were considered as Guru of the Kings. The Royals Gurus enjoyed much fanfare with their wisdom and literary works. The early form of Tamil literature found much prevalence during this period only. The Vishanavite link between the Rulers and Gurus paved way for benefactions in the temple. Cokkanatha Nayak of the same dynasty made a number of contributions to the temple in the form of architectural facilities, streets, gifting away the surrounding peripherals to the temple trust and so on. The successors of the dynasty carried on legacy and 3 ivory idols of the family of Vijaynagara Cokkanatha in the temple grounds speak loud about contributions made by them.

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