• Mrs. S. Vijaya Rani

Tourism is a temporary movement of people from their residential places to other places for pleasure seeking. World Tourism Organisation says that tourism is an economic, cultural and social activity. McIntosh and Goeldner (1986) states that tourism is the process of attracting tourists, host governments and communities and hosting through the relationship arising there on. Nowadays tourism occupies an important place in the revenue of the government. With a lot of new specialisations tourism developed a lot. Cultural tourism, Heritage tourism, Medical tourism, Eco-tourism, Festival Tourism and so on are the specialisations in this regard. Heritage tourism is a branch of tourism that was oriented towards the cultural heritage of the location where tourism is occurring. The National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States defines heritage tourism as "travelling to experience the places, artifacts and activities that authentically represent the stories and people of the past", and "heritage tourism can include cultural, historic and natural resources". Culture has always been a major object of travel, as the development of the Grand Tour from the 16th century onwards attests. In the 20th century, some people have claimed, culture ceased to be the objective of tourism: tourism is now culture. Cultural attractions play an important role in tourism at all levels, from the global highlights of world culture to attractions that underpin local identities. India is a land of varied culture and it possesses abundant cultural and heritage centres that attract a lot of foreign tourists towards it. The magnanimous temples, forts, tombs and palaces are the standing examples of the marvellous art and architecture of the ancient people. The temples are not only the worshiping places but also a centre of all social and legal activities. In this regard an attempt is made to study the heritage and cultural importance of Srirangam. Srirangam Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple is in Thiruchirapalli Tamilnadu. It is also called as Thiruvarangam. This temple conserved the cultural heritage of Tamilnadu. It is the most important one among the 108 divyadeshams. It is considered as first and foremost temples of all divyadesam. It is referred as BhoologaVaigundam. Festivals speak volumes of heritage of the society. So, this paper also tried to study the festivals celebrated in Sri Renganathar temple. This temple is famous for its festivals. Here throughout the year for three sixty five days three sixty five festivals are celebrated which depicts the culture and heritage of the country. Each festival celebrated in this temple tells the social and cultural life of the people. It attracts pilgrims and tourists from inside and outside India. So the main objective of this paper is to bring to lime light the heritage and cultural importance of Srirangam temple.

Heritage, Srirangam temple, Tourism, Historicity of Srirangam and Festivals at Srirangam

"HERITAGE TOURIM - SRIRANGAM SRI RANGANATHASWAMI TEMPLE – A STUDY", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 4, page no.146-151, April-2019, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1904321.pdf

"HERITAGE TOURIM - SRIRANGAM SRI RANGANATHASWAMI TEMPLE – A STUDY", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.6, Issue 4, page no. pp146-151, April-2019, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR1904321.pdf