Share ur most favourite Gopuram photo clicked by yourself in the replies (or quote).This is mine. Its the Vellai gopuram at Srirangam. Named in honour of the great Vellayiammal whose act of bravery & sacrifice saved the murthi of Ranganatha from loot by islamic invaders in 1323CE 
The year was 1323 CE. Srirangam was once again under attack by islamic barbarians of the delhi sultanate. The Temple was once already plundered a decade ago by jehadi malik kafur. This time the plundering expedition was led by barbarian ulugh khan.
While ulugh khan's mujahids were ransacking & looting everything they could lay their hands on, Vellayiammal devised a plan to distract the jehadis to buy some time for other Bhakthas to save to murthis of Namperumal & Maha Lakshmi.
Vellayiammal lured one of the barbarian jehadi to the top of this very Gopuram on the pretext of leading him to the treasure. Once on top, she pushed the barbarian to his death.
Knowing very well what awaited her if she were to attempt an escape, the brave Vellayiammal too jumped to her death chanting Sri Ranga's name. This heroic act of Vellayiammal would buy Shri Pillai Lokacharya some time to retrieve & relocate the murthis of Namperumal & Nacchimaar.
Shri Pillai Lokacharya would take the murthis to a remote place further south near Madurai.
The Location.
google.com/maps/place/Sri…
The murthis would remain there for nearly 50 years, while Srirangam continued to be under islamic occupation.
The Location.
google.com/maps/place/Sri…
The murthis would remain there for nearly 50 years, while Srirangam continued to be under islamic occupation.
It would take the Vijayanagara emperor Bukka Raya's son, General Kumara Kampanna's heroic exploits to finally liberate Srirangam & other prominent Temple towns like Chidambaram & Madurai from islamic barbarians nearly 50 years later.
The sacrifices of Vellayiammal was one of Kampanna's motivation to liberate Dakshin Bharat from the scourge of islamic barbarians. Since then the Gopuram has come to be known by the name. Vellayi in Tamil also means white. It is the only Gopuram in Srirangam that is painted white
Adjacent to the Vellayi Gopuram is the enormous Shesharaya Mantapam. It was built during the reign of the Vijayanagara Nayakas as a part of restoration & expansion of the Srirangam Temple complex. Every major TN temple that was plundered by jehadis was restored by the Nayakas.
The Shesharaya mantapam showcases enormous pillars with fierce looking warriors on horseback wielding all kinds of weapons, expounding the fighting spirit of Vijayanagara soldiers who vanquished islamic barbarians of the sultanate.
It is a tragedy that such historical events don't even find mention as a footnote in our school & college history textbooks. The powers that be are simply not interested in correcting decades of nehruvian-marxist indoctrination of falsified history. /end
