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Lord Sri Ranganatha of the temple appeared from the Milk Ocean. Lord Brahma was worshipping Him for a long time and appointed Sun to continue the pujas as per Vedic rules. 

Lord Sri Rama, belonging to the Surya (Sun) dynasty was worshipping the Lord then. As a mark of His love and recognition of the services rendered to Him by Vibishana during His war against Ravana to rescue Sita, Lord Rama gifted His Ranganatha to Vibishana. While returning to Lanka after Sri Rama’s coronation in Ayodhya, Vibishana placed the idol on the ground for a break during the journey. But Vibishana was shocked that he could not even move the idol when he tried then. Lord Perumal also expressed His desire to stay on the banks of Cauvery and promised Vibishana that He would be in His reclining form facing Lanka in the south. 

According to history, Darma Chola built the temple later. As this temple went into the sands in the years that followed, this temple was built by Killi Valavan of the Chola dynasty. Lord Ranganatha graces in a reclining form as He did on the Milk Ocean. Lord Brahma is not in the naval chord. It is believed that Lord Brahma worships the Lord just before sunrise each day. Images of Vibhishana, Brahma, Hanuman, Garuda, the symbols of Vishnu – conch and discuss are seen inside the sanctum. This is one of the Swayambu Kshetras with the Lord facing south. The vimana of the Lord is covered with gold. 

While staging the Kamba Ramayana in the temple, some objected to the mention of Lord Sri Narasimha in the Ramavatar story. Kambar said that he would withdraw this part of the epic if Lord Himself so demanded. Lord Sri Narasimha emerged from a pillar and approved Kambar’s writing as true. Lord Narasimha in the temple graces from a separate shrine in the name of Mettazhagia Singar near the Mother’s shrine. The mandap where Ramayana Arangettram took place is opposite to the Mother’s shrine. There is a shrine for Sri Garudazhwar (eagle vehicle of Lord Vishnu) holding the nectar pot and also the Vedas handed over to him by Perumal after recovering them from the demons. The idol is made of Salagrama. 

Devotees offer dal, jaggery, and sweet pudding balls as nivedhana to Sri Garuda. The 25-feet tall Sri Garuda graces His Vishwarupa darshan opposite the Lord Ranganatha shrine. He appears in such a majestic form ready to take off with the Lord wearing Ashta Nagabaranam, a jewel of 8 serpents. The dhoti vastra of Sri Garuda is 30 meter long. Abishek is not performed to Sri Garuda. 

The temple also has a shrine for Danwanthiri, Lord of medicines, with Mother Mahalakshmi on His chest. He holds conch and discus in His hands and also a leech. Traditionally, Perumal is seen in Vishnu temples with Mothers Sridevi and Bhoodevi; however, here Mother Ranganayaki Thayaar (Thayaar-Mother) in the temple is a procession deity with Sridevi and Bhoodevi behind Her in the same shrine. 

Daughter of Mallik Kafoor, a Muslim king of Delhi was devoted to the Lord. In honor of her, an idol of the Muslim princess is located in the temple and named Bibi Thuluka Nachiyaar. Lord Ranganatha Swamy is dressed in a Lungi, the Muslim dhoti and Roti is offered as nivedhana on Ekadasi and New Moon days. Images are own and sourced from srirangam.org

The temple occupies an area of 156 acres (631,000 m²) with a perimeter of 4,116m making it the largest temple in India and one of the largest religious complexes in the world. The main entrance, known as the Rajagopuram (the royal temple tower), rises from the base area of around 5720 sq. ft. and goes up to 237 feet, moving up in eleven progressively smaller tiers. The inscriptions in the temple belong to the Chola, Pandya, Hoysala and Vijayanagar dynasties, who successively swayed the destinies of the Tiruchirapalli district. They range in date between the 9th and 16th centuries. 

The temple is enclosed by 7 concentric walls with a total length of 32,592 feet or over six miles. This temple has 21 gopurams (towers), 39 pavilions, 50 shrines, a hall of 1000 pillars and several small water bodies inside.  The temple is aligned to the north-south and east-west axis, on an island surrounded by the Kaveri River. The river has long been considered sacred, and called the Daksina Ganga or the "Ganges of the South". The outer two prakarams (outer courtyard) are residential and markets with shops, restaurants, and flower stalls. The complex houses shrines of dozens of forms of Vishnu including Narasimha, Rama, Chakrathazhwar, Hayagreeva and Gopala Krishna. There are separate shrines for Ranganayaki and the major saints in the Vaishnava tradition, including Ramanuja. 

The Hall of 1000 pillars (actually 953) is a fine example of a planned theatre-like structure and opposite to it is the "Sesha Mandap". The 1000-pillared hall made of granite was constructed in the Vijayanagara period (1336–1565) on the site of the old temple. The pillars consists of sculptures of wildly rearing horses bearing riders on their backs and trampling with their hoofs upon the heads of rampant tigers. The length and breadth at the base of the Rajagopuram is 166 feet and 97 feet, while the length and breadth at the top is 98 feet and 32 feet. Befitting the gargantuan dimensions of the structure, every one of the 13 glistening copper 'kalasams' atop the tower weighs 135 kg and measures 3.12m (height) by 1.56m (diameter). 

In particular, these shrines celebrate and commemorate the Tamil poet-saints and philosophers called the Alvars, as well as Hindu philosophers such as Ramanuja and Manavala Mamunigal of Sri Vaishnavism tradition. Despite the construction of various mandapas and gopuras over a span of many centuries, the architecture of the Ranganathaswamy temple is one of the better illustrations of Hindu temple planimetric geometry per agama design texts in the Tamil tradition.