What is "ranganayaki"

Ranganayaki, is the presiding Goddess of Ranganatha Swamy temple at Srirangam. Affectionately called ThAyAr ("Holy Mother" in Tamil), she is the consort of Lord Ranganatha, the male deity of Srirangam. She is regarded as the manifestation of Lakshmi. She is also called Ranga NAchiAr.

Ranganayaki is held in high reverence by the people of Srirangam and by Vaishnavites. Acharyas that sang the grace of Ranganatha venerate her. She is the feminine aspect of the universe and certain Vaishnavite traditions regard her co-equal to Ranganatha himself; she is both the means and the end of worship to them. Other traditions of Vaishnavism hold her only as the means--the end is Narayana alone. Despite these philosophical differences, all Vaishanvites revere her as ThAyAr.

Ranganayaki (, The Heroine of the Stage) is a 1981 Kannada film directed by Puttanna Kanagal starring Aarathi, Ambarish, Ramakrishna, Ashok, Rajanand. The film is an based on the novel Ranganayaki by Ashwattha.