108 Divya desams-An introduction(Part-2)

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Sri Parthasarathi thunai

 

Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha

 

Sri Vara Vara munayE Namaha

 

Pranams,

 

Adiyen before proceeding further to the details of the divya desams, would like

to mention about the source of information from which, adiyen will be preparing

the postings.

 

Its actually based on a book called "108 vainava divya dEsa stala varalAru" by

vaishnava sudarAzhi Sri A.EthirAjar, karaikudi.

 

The highlights of this book are the following

 

This book has been blessed with srimukham by HH Sri Varada ethirAja jeeyer

from Sriperumbudur.

Also blessed with srimukham by HH Sri Sriranga Narayana Jeeyer swami(50th

pattam) from Sri Rangam.

In 1995, this book has received the first prize, among the Tamil

Anmeega(religious) books released in that year from the Tamil Nadu government.

 

Adiyen, thereby hopes that, the authenticity of historical and other information

provided in the postings will not raise doubts in the minds of the readers.

 

 

 

Now, let adiyen continue with the introduction,

 

As said in the previous posting, emperumAn takes five different forms, viz.,

para, vyuha, vibhava, antaryAmi and archai. Alwar reverberates the same in the

following paasuram:

 

"vinmeediruppAi, malaimElnirppAi, kadal sErppAi

 

manmeeduyalvAi evattrul engum maraindhuraivAi

 

enmeedhiyandra puravandaththAi enadAvi

 

vunmeedhAdi vurukkAttAdhE olippAyO?"

 

Here vin meediruppAi refers to paratvam, (staying in the sky/heavens)

malaimEl nirppAi to archai (staying in divya desams like thiruppathi,

thirumAlirunchOlai etc, (Standing on hills/mountains)

kadal sErppAi refers to vyuha moorthi, (Residing in sea)

man meedhuyalvAi refers to vibhavams(he came down as rama and Krishna)

(Walking or loitering on earth)

evattrul engum maraindhu vuraivAi refers to antaryami who stays inside each

one, being invisible to all. (Hiding inside the above mentioned)

 

Next let us see how the various divya desams are classified:

 

Arsham: Some divya desams were formed by rishis. They are called Arsham.

PowrAnikam: Those divya desams, which are regarded high in the purAnAs, are

powrAnikam.

Svayam vyakhtha stalam or saithyam: Those which were formed by themselves are

svayam vyakhtham

Deivam: Those which were formed by brahma and other devas are called deivam.

mAnavam: Those which were consecrated by adiyars and kings are called

mAnavam.

abhimAna stalams: Those which were largely enjoyed and praised by Acharya

purshAs are called abhimAna stalams.

 

Any divine temple, irrespective of the above categories, if alwars had done

mangalasasanams to the deity, is called as divya desam. The word ‘divyam’ in

Sanskrit means ‘auspicious’. These divya desams which have been sung by the

divya sooris(alwars) in their divya prabandhams(4000 paasurams) are very

auspicious and have full sanctity.

 

Similar to the Narayana manthram, which has 3 padhams, the divya desams also

have 3 important reasons for their divinity. The temple, the perumal or the

deity and the paasurams (mangalAsAsanam) of alwars.

 

Like the eight aksharAs of the narayana manthram, the divya desams have saptha

punyam and the alwar paasurams thus making the divya desams capable of giving

the same palan(result) given by the chanting of the astAkshara manthram. The

saptha punyam referred are:

 

"kshetram vanam nadhi sindhu puram pushkarini tatha vimAnam saptha punyancha

yatra desa"

 

If all these along with alwar paasurams are present, then what hinders us from

calling the place as a divya desam? There are totally 108 such divyadesams

accepted in our sampradAyam. The divyadesams get a special prominence due to the

vimAnam above the garbha gruham of the prime deity with beautiful sculptural

works. There are altogether 96 different types of vimAnams found in the

108-divya desams. The few important among them are:

 

PranavA kruthi vimAnam (in temples formed by devas)

vimalA kruthi vimAnam

suddha satva vimAnam

thAraka vimAnam

suganAkruthi vimAnam

Vaithika vimAnam

vutpalA vimAnam

sowndarya vimAnam

pushkalA vartha vimAnam

vEda chakkra vimAnam

sanjeevi vigraha vimAnam

astAnga vimAnam (as in paramapadam)

punya kOti vimAnam

sreekara vimAnam

ramya vimAnam

mukunda vimAnam

vijaya kOti vimAnam

simmAkkara vimAnam

taptha kAnchana vimAnam

hEma koota vimAnam

 

It is commonly told by our ancestors that just the gopura darishanam grants us

kOdi punyam. Such is the importance given to the vimAnams in the divya desams.

Among the 108 divyadesams, two are not in this world and hence cannot be reached

by us in this birth. But it is a general belief that those who visit 106 in this

world will be taken to the rest two by bhagavan after this janma (life). The

two, which are not in this world, are paramapadham and pArkadal.

 

Among the above said 106, 96 are in south India and 12 in north India.

 

We will see why more divya desams are in south India and about the whereabouts

of these divyadesams and about the alwar mangalAsAsanams to these divyadesams in

the coming postings. We will then proceed to see the divyadesams in detail one

by one.

 

(To be continued)

 

AzhwAr emberumAnAr jeeyar thiruvadigaLE saraNam

 

Adiyen Ramanuja Dasan

 

Varadarajan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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