News
of the Ranga Vimanam being carried to Lanka had spread throughout the country and sages
and saints were anxiously waiting with the Chola king Dharma Varma at the Kaveri to have a
darsan.
Inscrutable is the ways of God. The desire of
Dharma Varma, the Chola prince, was fulfilled in this miraculous way. He started
constructing a gigantic structure for installing the Ranga Vimanam. Dharma Varma
worshipped the Ranga Vimanam for a long time and attained salvation. Years passed and once
an unprecedented flood came in River Kaveri, which brought an enormous quantity of silt
and sand and flooded the entire country. It is said that the flood was so devastating that
even the peak of the gopuram of the temple was submerged under sand and looked like a sand
dune.
The entire city surrounding it was utterly
devastated. The Chola king shifted the capital from Tri (Uraiyur) to Tanjore. The Ranga
Vimanam temple was left uncared for, submerged under sand, which gradually gave rise to
other, vegetation’s, that at last became a west. Then it so happened that once Chola
prince went out for a pleasure hunt. He rested for some time under a tree in this forest |
