Everything about Divya Deshams
Ritual is an external demonstration of religion. It provides a scope for us to observe religion outwardly. It is akin to the feet of religion. It may not be the essence of the religion, yet it is not a non-essential part of the religion. It is, so to say, an outer form of religion. When its spirit is missed, religion is seen to stagnate and not rise to higher levels. Every religion has its own rituals.
In an act of puja, the mind’s joys and sorrows are demonstrated before the deity. During this religious ritual, the mind releases its limitations and experiences an expansion of its content and existence.
Ritual has a social element as well. It unites the society and the nation into a composite whole in which the parts are cemented together with a bond of affinity of feeling and purpose. This introduces strength to the society. The aspect of pilgrimage (Tirtha-Yatra) brings the advantage of historical renovation and respect for ancient traditions of different places. It arouses in the minds of people a special relationship to distant places.
Without such injunctions people will lose association with others and the force binding them into a single character, called culture will be missing.
The word Theertha” refers to sacred water. Theertha sthala or Theertha kshetra” is a sacred or holy spot. It could be a river, a lake or even a mountain that is made sacred through association with a deity or a saint. It is said that Theertha possesses three elements that make it sacred – suchi (pure}, it brings punya and it is shubha (auspicious). They are also referred to as Punya Sthalas.
Alwars of south India are mystics whose consciousness does not work in compartments. Deep mystics as all of them are, they have revealed a new experience to the world consciousness – similar to the Vedic seers who saw all deities in one.
The Alwars composed approximately 4000 Tamil verses. In the 9th – 10th century, the philosopher saint Nathamuni took extraordinary steps to recover these verses.
Saint Nathamuni arranged them as the Divya Prabandham (Divine collection), set many of them to music and rejuvenated the tradition of formally reciting them in temples The verses of Alwars speak of the glory of Sri Maha Vishnu, of instances from Puranas and the glory of temples visited by the Alwars. The shrines visited by Alwars and sang their verses are hailed as Divya Deshams.
Geographic locations
Out of the 108 Divya Deshams, 2 are celestial abodes of Lord Narayana; (click here for the complete list of 108 Divya Deshams)
The rest were located as follows-
- 40 of the shrines are located in the Chola kingdom in Tamilnadu;
- 22 are located near Kanchipuram and Chennai;
- 2 are located in Nadu Naadu (Tiruvahindrapuram and Tirukkovilur);
- 18 are located in Pandiya Nadu;
- 11 are in Kerala,
- 2 near Kanyakumari;
- 1 at Tirupathi;
- 1 at Ahobilam;
- 7 in Uttar Pradesh;
- 1 in Nepal and
- 1 in Gujarat
The shrines
Out of the 108 Divya Deshams,
- 47 have been addressed by Sri Tirumangai alwar;
- 18 by Nammalwar; 2 have been addressed by Tirumazhisai alwar;
- 1 by Kulasekhara alwar;
- 1 by Perialwar; the remaining 39 are addressed by hymns composed by more than one Alwar.
- 247 verses were addressed to Srirangam;
- 202 were addressed to Tirupathi;
- 128 were addressed to Azhagar Koil;
- 7 were addressed Kanchipuram
Nayanmars
Saivism is one of the very ancient and dominant schools of philosophy in India, dating back to a few thousand years. A large majority of Shiva temples are seen in the south of India, some of them dating back a few thousand years.
The Nayanmars are the leaders of the Bhakti movement in the south. Sixty-two saints lived during the period 7th through the 9th century AD. These saints lived expressing their devotion to Lord Shiva. A sixty-third saint, Sundaramoorthy Nayanar honoured all these saints in his famous Tamil work Tirutondattogai. At a later date, in the 12th century AD, Sekkizhar, researched the lives of all these saints and produced his prodigious work known as Periya Puranam.
It is this group of sixty-three saints who are referred to as Nayanmars. The Tevaram hymns of the Nayanmar saints speak of the existence of 275 odd shrines during that phase of history. The traditions in these shrines survived thousands of years later to the period origin of the famous hymns. These 275 shrines are referred to “Paadal Petra Sthalams.” Following is a list of Tirumurais.
Tirumurais
There are twelve “Tirumurais”. Tirumurai means a sacred book. The first three Tirumurais were composed by three great Saivite saints. They are considered as the musical compositions of their age.
- Thevaram by Tirujnana Sambandhar
- Thevaram by Tirunavukkaracar
- Tiruvachakam Tirukkovaiyar by Manikkavachakar
- Tiruvicaippa Tiruppallandu by Tirumalikaittever, Centanar,
- Karuvurttevar, Nampikatava nampi, Kantaratittar, Venattatikal,
- Tiruvaliyamutanar, Purutottama nampi, Cetirayar
Tirumantiram by Tirumullar
Forty on works by Karaikkal Ammaiyar, Ceraman Perumal Nayanar, Pattinattu -pillaiyar, Nakkiratevar Nayanar, Kapilateva Nayanar, Thiruvalavaiyudaiyar, Nampiyantarnampi, IyyadigalkatavarkonNayanar, Kalladateva Nayanar, Paranateva Nayanar, Ellamperuman Adigal and Athiravadigal.
Periya Puranam by Sekkizhar
The first seven Tirumuraigal, authored by three of the foremost Nayanmars, are called “Thevarams”. The word Thevaram means a garland of songs in praise of the Divine.
Padal Petra Sthalam
Out of the 275 Shivasthalams, the one at Tiruvidaivaai was discovered in the year 1917 and it has a “Patikam”, by Sri Sambandar, engraved on its wall. However, this Patikam is not considered part of the works of the saint traditionally associated with Tamil Tirumurais. The Shivasthalams that have at least one Patikam composed in their honour are referred to, commonly, as Padal Petra Sthalam. Hence we have 274 Padal Petra Sthalams.
In addition, though there are 249 other Shiva shrines referred to in the Tevarams, they do not bear a Patikam. These are referred to as “Tevara Vaippu Sthalams”. These Patikams have been handed over from generation to generation. Even today, we hear these hymns rendered by highly trained people in the art of singing these hymns. These people are called “Oduvars”.
Shiva temples in Kerala created by Lord Parasurama
According to legend Lord Parasurama created the land between Gokarna and Kanyakumari. He then donated this land to Brahmins and got them settled in 64 villages. Further, he consecrated 216 temples in this region – 108 Shiva temples and 108 Durga temples.
These are very old temples and the tradition of singing hymns in praise of Lord Shiva is being continued.
