Soundararaja-perumal

Soundararaja-perumal of Thirunagai

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. Thirunagai is the nineteenth of the abodes in that enumeration.

This Temple

• Location: Nagapattinam, Nagapattinam district (10.759830°N, 79.843706°E), Tamil Nadu — the town's older Tamil name is Thirunagai
• Presiding deity: Soundararaja Perumal (also given as Sundararaja — Vishnu in his handsome form), with his consort Saundaryavalli
• Tirtham: Saugandhi-tirtham
• Vimana: Soundararaja-vimana
• Attested: in the Nālāyira Divya Prabandham (Āḻvārs 5th–8th c. CE); the present structure is later and no construction date is recorded

The name, and the river

The temple stands close to a tributary of the Kaveri called the Odambokki, which is also known as the Virutha Kaveri. That water gives the deity one of his names, Kaveri Thuraivan — "the lord of the Kaveri's ghat". The Tamil name of the town, Thirunagai, is the one by which the shrine is sung in the Divya Prabandham; the present town is Nagapattinam, in Nagapattinam district.

Sthala-Puranam

The present-day Nagapattinam is believed to have been a forest, historically named Sundararinyam. In the Treta Yuga, tradition records, this is the forest where Dhruva performed a penance to appease Vishnu.

Worship & Festival

Daily five-fold puja is offered in the Sri Vaishnava order — vishvarupa, kala-santi, ucchikala, sayaraksha and ardha-jama — with tulasi, milk abhisheka, puliyodara, deepa-arati and the tirtha-and-shathari blessing. Vaikuntha Ekadashi, falling on the Margazhi full moon, is the holiest day of the year, when the Paramapada-vasal gate is opened and passing through it is held to grant moksha. The annual Brahmotsavam runs for ten days, with the deity borne on his vahanas.

The Alvar Tradition

Each Divya Desam's sanctity rests on how many Alvars sang of it and how many pasurams — the mangalashasanam. Tamil Vaishnavism treats the 4,000 pasurams as Dravida Veda, equivalent to the Sanskrit Vedas. Thirunagai's place as the nineteenth abode in that enumeration is what makes it one of the 108.