Ram Janmabhoomi — Divya Desam form

Ram Janmabhoomi — Divya Desam form

One of the 108 Divya Desams

The 108 Divya Desams are the sacred abodes of Vishnu sung by the 12 Alvar saint-poets. Compiled as the Nalayira Divya Prabandham by Nathamuni (9th c. CE), this corpus of 4,000 pasurams defines the sacred geography of Tamil Vaishnavism and the Sri Vaishnava sampradaya.

This Temple

• Location: Ayodhya, Ayodhya (26.7922°N, 82.1997°E) Uttar Pradesh
• Presiding deity: Rama-chandra-perumal (Rama standing with Sita, Lakshmana, Bharata, Shatrughna, Hanuman)
• Thayar (Goddess): Sita-thayar
• Tirtham: Sarayu-river
• Vimana: Pushpa-vimana
• Mangalashasanam: Sung by Kulasekhara-alvar (Perumal Tirumoli), Tirumangai-alvar, Peri-alvar — 14 pasurams
• Built: Ancient; present structure 2024 CE

Sthala-Puranam

Rama's birthplace and kingdom. The Perumal-Tirumoli of Kulasekhara is his meditation on Rama. Temple consecrated 2024 on the Janmabhoomi site.

Worship & Festival

Daily 5-fold puja; Vaikuntha Ekadashi (Margazhi full moon) is the holiest day — the Paramapada-vasal gate is opened; passing through is said to grant moksha. Annual Brahmotsavam (10 days) features Vishnu on all his vahanas (Garuda, Hanumanta, Shesha, Hamsa, Simha, Ratha).

The Alvar Tradition

Each Divya Desam's sanctity rests on how many Alvars sang of it and how many pasurams — this is the mangalashasanam. Tamil Vaishnavism treats the 4,000 pasurams as Dravida Veda — equivalent to the Sanskrit Vedas.

Why Ayodhya is sung

Ayodhya enters the prabandham as more than a place on a map. It is the city of the Rāma-candra-perumāl, the standing form of Rama with Sītā, Lakṣmaṇa, Bharata, Śatrughna and Hanumān — the household of the story made into an image. The thāyar is Sītā-ṭhāyyar, and the temple's waters are the Sarayu, the river of the Rāmāyaṇa itself. The hymnographers are named individually: Kulasekhara-ālavar in the Perumal Tirumoli, with Tirumaṅkai-ālavar and Peri-ālavar, for 14 pasurams between them.

Kulasekhara's setting of the Perumal Tirumoli is a meditation on Rama sung in the Tamil tirumālavar mode — a different musical register from the yanai used for Ayodhya's own praises. That difference is itself part of the record: the hymn reaches Ayodhya from a court that sang about it from elsewhere, which is why the mangalashasanam is counted rather than assumed.

The site today

The present structure dates from 2024 CE and was consecrated on the Janmabhoomi site itself, which makes this among the very few Divya Desams whose current building is contemporary. Behind it lies a much older history: the Vedic and epic period, then a long Puranic and medieval continuity of worship that the prabandham already presumes, and a colonial and modern period in which the shrine survived as a place of devotion while Ayodhya was contested ground in the wider story of the city.

A note on this entry

An earlier version carried invented quotations attributed to foreign travellers. They have been removed and must not be restored. What remains rests on the prabandham itself, on the Rāmāyaṇa, and on the standard enumerations of the 108 Divya Desams.

Sources

• Nalayira Divya Prabandham — Alvar hymns, 7th–9th c. CE — Tier 1
• Ramayana — Tier 1
• 108 Divya Desams — Tier 2
• India: What Can It Teach Us? — Tier 2