Sri Kodi Ranganatha Swamy Temple
Sirivaram
(Under the management of Sri Kodi Ranganatha Swamy Seva Trust Rgtd.)
Brief History of the Temple and Trust
(As per the Leela Ranganatham book)
Sirivaram is an ancient village near the Lepakshi temple in Hindupur, Andhra Pradesh. According to history, 1000 years ago Sirivaram had one Sri Mahalakshmi Temple and one Anjaneya swamy temple. The idol of Lakshmi was made of gold, later on it was stolen as per the history. Years later the Sri Kodi Ranganatha Swamy Temple was constructed and the corresponding trust was created.
The Karanam family and the Village Magistrate called as Reddy looked after the temple. The Karanam family looked after the administration of the village. The Karanam(Brahmin) family had one custom of Athithe Puja, that is giving lunch to one outside member.
One day a pilgrim who was on the way to Lepakshi came to the village and was offered the meals and he told the family members to install an ideal of Sri Ranganatha Swamy of SriRangam (Tamil Nadu). Accordingly Bheem Reddy and Karanam Narayanappa assembled the villagers about the construction of the Temple. This village was under the capital of Vijayanagaram and requested the King and Rajaguru Sri Vidyaranya Swami for financial help and constructed a small temple at Sirivaram near the village tank.
Every tank will have one overflowing level that is called Maruva in Telugu and Kodi in Kannada. As the temple was constructed near Kodi, it is called as Kodi Ranganatha Swamy. From that day the Karanam family and villagers have been looking after the Puja etc. Years passed during the days Karanam VenkataKrishnappa was looking after the temple.
After his death, his son, Adinarayana Rao has continued and formed a committee in 1938 as Sri Kodi Ranganatha Swamy Seva Samithi. During 1992-93 then Supreme Court Chief Justice M. N. Venkatachalaiah who is a devotee of the temple visited the temple and advised to register a committee and formed By laws and registered as Sri Kodi Ranganatha Swamy Seva Trust on 31-5-1995.
A new committee was formed on 9th July 1995 and from that day onwards all the Puja and important festivals have been performing till this day. The old temple was demolished and the new temple was constructed in 2002 with the help of the government contribution of 16 lakhs. The trust has also donated 6 lakhs.
(The below image will be updated with higher-quality version soon)
The new temple was inaugurated in February 2005 by Justice M N Venkatachallaiah spoke on the occasion. From that day onwards regular pujas have been performed till this day. At present new committee looking after the day to day administration. There was no compound for this temple, but it was constructed and a path was also provided recently.
(The below image will be updated with higher-quality version soon)
