A guest Blog with Suchitra Venkatesh

Suchitra Venkatesh who is an accomplished culinarian,has an exhaustive collection of recipes at her blog.She loves crafts and is big on DIY projects.She is also very passionate about visiting temples and has a wealth of information about temples.She has written a small note about 108 Divyadesams.She has already visited 60 Divyadesams .It is interesting to note that of the total 108 Divyadesams two of them do not belong to the realm of the earth.They are called Thirup paaRkadal and Paramapadham.  Read on 



Image courtesy:Srivaishnavam.com

Lord Vishnu is considered to be supreme by the Sri Vaishnavas. Alwars who are believed to be the amsams of Lord Narayana dedicated their lives towards the Lord. There are in all 12 azhwars of which one is a woman Sri Andal. 11 of these 12 Alwars have sung verses praising the Lord in 108 temples.

The collection of all these verses sung by the azhwars is called Naal ayiram divya prabantham wherein naal ayiram means 4000 verses. The temples are collectively known as Divyadesams. Of these one temple is in Nepal, 105 in India and the other two in the celestial world. Most of the temples are in Tamilnadu and the temples are classified as

Chozha naatu divyadesam - 40 temples

Pandiya naatu divyadesam - 18 temples

Tondai naatu divyadesam - 22 temples

Malai naatu divyadesam -13 temples

Vadu naatu divyadesam -11 temples

Nadu naatu divyadesam - 2 temples

Vinnulagam - 2 temples   

 

Thank you Suchitra for this informative note.The benefit of visiting all the Divyadesams is Moksha.I think all Jivatams finally seek the lords feet.