Divya Desam

The Ranganathaswamy Temple, located in Srirangam, is the first of the Divya Desams. 

Divya Desam (Sanskrit: दिव्यदेशम्, Tamil: திவ்ய தேசம்) or Vaishnava Divya Desam[1] are the 108 Vishnu and Lakshmi temples that is mentioned in the works of the Alvars, the poet-saints of the Sri Vaishnava tradition.
Muktinath Temple, Nepal is the only Divya Desam outside India

Of the 108 temples, 105 are in India, one is in Nepal, and the last two are believed to be outside the earth, in Tirupparkatal and Vaikuntham. In India, they are spread across the states of Tamil Nadu (84), Kerala (11), Andhra Pradesh (2), Gujarat (1), Uttar Pradesh (4), and Uttarakhand (3). Muktinath, Saligramam is the only Divya Desam in Nepal. Tamil Nadu is home to the most number of Divya Desams with 25 of them being located in the Chennai Metropolitan Area. The Divya Desams are revered by the 12 Alvars in the Naalayira Divya Prabandham, a collection of 4,000 Tamil verses. The Divya Desams follow either Tenkalai or Vadakalai modes of worship.[2]

  1. ^ P.M., Neelakrishnan (April 1992). "Sri Divya Desams". Ancient Science of Life. 11 (3). Coimbatore: Sarva Sastra Maha Vidyalaya: 193–7. PMC 3336602. PMID 22556587.
  2. ^ R.K.K., Rajarajan (2013). "Historical sequence of the Vaiṣṇava Divyadeśas. Sacred venues of Viṣṇism". Acta Orientalia. 74. Acta Orientalia, Societates Orientales Daniica Fennica Norvegia Svecia: 37–90. ISSN 0001-6438.