The 108 Divya Desams

In the Sri Vaishnava tradition, a Divya Desam is a temple praised in the devotional poetry of the twelve Alvars. This act of praise is called Mangalasasanam. The Alvars sang in Tamil, and their hymns are gathered in the Nalayira Divya Prabandham, a collection of four thousand verses. Tradition places these saints in the early medieval centuries, roughly the 5th to the 8th century CE.

These 108 sanctums are honored as places where Bhagwan Vishnu is present in the Archavatara, the accessible form of the temple image that devotees can see and worship. The Divya Desams are often called Bhuloka Vaikuntham, meaning heaven on earth. Almost all of them have separate shrines for Vishnu and for Lakshmi.

One hundred and five Divya Desams stand in India, one stands in Nepal, and two are believed to lie beyond the earthly realm. The earthly shrines are spread across six Indian states, which are grouped in the table below.

The temples are also grouped into six traditional regions: Chera Nadu in the west, Chola Nadu at the center, Pandya Nadu in the south, Thondai Nadu (also called Pallava Nadu) in the north of the Tamil country, Vada Nadu for everything further north still, from Andhra Pradesh up through North India and Nepal, and the celestial Divya Desams.

The twelve Alvars are Poigai, Bhoothath, Peyalvar, Thirumalisai, Nammalvar, Madhurakavi, Kulasekhara, Periyalvar, Andal, Thondaradippodi, Thiruppaan, and Thirumangai. The word Alvar means one immersed in devotion to God. Andal, the only woman among them, is remembered for the Tiruppavai, which she sang in devotion to Sri Ranganatha. She is linked with Srivilliputhur.

Many Divya Desams carry a local story. At Thirukkoyilur, the first three Alvars are believed to have attained salvation. At Thirukkoli, near Srirangam, Thiruppaan Alvar was born. At Muktinath, in the Gandaki valley in Nepal, pilgrims honor the sacred saligrama stones.

At Srirangam, the annual Vaikuntha Ekadashi festival is held over twenty-one days in the Tamil month of Margazhi, in December and January, and draws a very large gathering of devotees. At Thirunaraiyur, local tradition gives Lakshmi precedence, so that on festive occasions she goes ahead and Vishnu follows. These customs show how each Divya Desam preserves its own sacred story.

Pilgrimage to the Divya Desams is rooted in Prapatti, the complete surrender of the self to God:

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  Devotees recite verses of the Divya Prabandham before each temple image.
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  Sri Ramanujacharya, who lived in the 11th and 12th centuries, is remembered for ordering worship, music, and service at Srirangam and for opening the teaching to all.
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  The path teaches that God comes within reach in a visible form out of boundless love for devotees, a quality known as Saulabhya.

The first verse of Nammalvar's Thiruvaimozhi, Pasuram 1.1.1, is a prayer of recollection of the Lord:

Who is the One of unsurpassed excellence? Who granted flawless wisdom? Who is the Lord of the ever-free? O my mind, rise and worship the radiant light that removes all sorrow.