Elements of Hindu Iconography v3.c20.2.3

v3.c20.2.3

It will be considered a temple of the uttamamadhyama class if there are the Ēkādaśa Rudras and the Dvādaśa Ādityas also; and it would become a temple of the uttamōttama class if there are further the images of Balirakshaka, the eight Vasus, Jayā etc. The Vaikhānāsāgama also gives the number of archakas or the officiating priests and the parichārakas or the servants that are to be employed in each one of the above mentioned varieties of temples. For the uttamōttama class of temple it is said that there should be twenty archakas and one hundred parichārakas. Excepting the famous temple of Ranganātha in Śrīraṅgam there does not appear to be any other ancient temple in India with seven āvaraṇas. Before the time of Rāmānuja this temple followed the Vaikhāna-sāgama and therefore we find even to this day a number of small shrines in all the āvaraṇas, but after Rāmānuja introduced the Pāñcharātrāgama in Śrīraṅgam, the images of the Śrīvaishṇava saints and āchāryas were set up along with the images of the deities already found in them. The plan of a Vishṇu temple having seven āvaraṇas with the names of the deities that are required to be consecrated in them is appended.