A Guide to 108 Divya Desams

Divya Desam

In Hinduism, Venkateshwara (also spelled as Venkateswara, Venkateshwer or Venkatachalapathi) is a much-worshipped form of Vishnu. He is also known as Balaji or Lord Venkateswara. He is also worshiped with the name Tirupati Thimmappa all over Karnataka by traditionally Shiva worshipping communities.

Vishnu, in the form of Venkateshwara, is much worshipped at Tirupati temple. Venkateshwara is the presiding deity at the Tirumala temple complex, believed to be the richest of all the Hindu shrines in the world. The temple is situated in southern Andhra Pradesh in Chittoor district. It is around 120 km away from Chennai. The presence of seven hills influenced alternate names for the diety: Edu kondala vadu in Telugu and as Elumalaiyan in Tamil both of which mean Lord of the Seven Hills.

In between the Pallava and the Chola country lay an undefined small region called the Nadu nadu or mid country. The Pallava country was also known as Todaimandalam or Tondai nadu which was bounded on the north by the Svarnamukhi river and on the south by the South Pennar. The Chola country known as Sola nadu lay between the South Pennar and the Cauvery rivers. The pandyan kingdom lay South of the Cauvery right down to the sea. The western half of the extreme south (ruled by the Cheran king) extending to the Arabian sea was called the Malai nadu or Hill country. The remaining part of India to the north of the Tondai mandalam was known as the Vada nadu or Vadugar nadu (the country of the northerners). The chart shows the sacred places arranged on the above regional basis adopted by the Sri Vaishnavas.

Chozha Tirupathigal	1 to 40
Malayaala Tirupathigal	41 to 53
Nadu Tirupathigal	54 to 55
Pandiya Tirupathigal	56 to 73
Thondal Tirupathigal	74 to 95
Vada Tirupathigal	96 to 106
Vinnulaga Tirupathigal	107 to 108