Abhimana Kshethram

Abhimana Kshethram or Abhimana Sthalam are a list of 108 sacred Vishnu temples apart from the other 108 Divya desams. Abhimana desams or close abodes, these temples are the most significant temples in the Vaishnavite tradition which has similar greatness as Divya Desams. These set of temples is classified as an Abhimana Kshethram as it is mentioned in Various Puranas and Ithihasas such as Ramayana and Mahabharata and have Significant Sthala Puranas based on the Ithihasas and Various Puranas of Hinduism . The temples are also said to be visited by many Religious scholars and saints such as Ramanuja, Adi Shankara, Madhvacharya, Nathamuni, Yamunacharya, Vedanta Desika, Manavala Mamunigal, Purandara Dasa, Narayana Teertha, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and by many other great Vedic teachers and Rishis. Some of these Temples are said to be visited by the Alvars who did not sing the god's grace due to various reasons. Out of these 108 temples Rajagopalaswamy Temple, Mannargudi is considered as the 1st out of the 108 Abhimana Kshethras as Thirumangai Alvar is believed to have visited the temple and is believed to have built the tall flag post outside the temple with the help of cotton bales. The other Alvars who are believed to have visited the temple at various periods were seemingly lost in under the beauty of the presiding deity and were at a loss for words.

Sri Vidhya Rajagopalaswamy temple located in Mannargudi, is the first among the other Abhimana Kshethrams.

Legend

There were many old and highly important temples which were not sung by the Alvars in their Naalayira Divya Prabandham hence, not classified as a Divya desam which made many Vaishnava scholars sad. Nathamuni, Madhvacharya, Ramanuja, Vedanta Desika and many other Vaishnavate scholars classified another sect of temples called Abhimana Kshethras. These temples are so close to the heart of Maha Vishnu hence, called Abhimana desam. These temples are classified as 108 Temples as various Vaishnavite Acharayas, Alvars and Various Rishis of puranas and ithihas glorify them.

List of Abhimana Kshethrams

This is the list of the 108 sacred Temples dedicated to various forms of Vishnu the supreme deity of Vaishnavism. These 108 Abhimana Kshethras are present only in India.

No.	Name	Deity	Image
1	Rajagopalaswamy Temple, Mannargudi	Vidhya Rajagopalaswamy (Krishna)
2	Kothandaramar temple, Vaduvur	Rama and Sita
3	Kothandaramar temple, Paruthiyur	Rama and Sita
4	Srinivasa Perumal Temple, Kudavasal	Srinivasa Perumal with Sridevi, Bhudevi
5	Kalinga narthana krishna Temple	Veda Naarayanar with Sridevi and Bhudevi
6	Chakrapani Temple, Kumbakonam	Chakrapani Perumal and Vijayalakshmi Thayar
7	Kothandaramar Temple, Adambar	Rama with Sita
8	Kothandaramar Temple, Thillaivilagam	Rama with Sita
9	Sri Lakshmi Narayana Perumal, Varagur	Lakshmi Narayana Perumal, Venkatesha Perumal and Navaneetha Krishnan
10	Mudikondan Kothandaramar Temple	Rama with Sita
11	Kothandaramaswamy Temple, Patteeswaram	Rama with Sita
12	Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple, Thirumandangudi	Ranganthaswamy and Ranganayaki Thayar.(Thondaradippodi Alvar avathara sthalam)
13	Ramaswamy Temple, Kumbakonam	Rama with Sita
14	Rajagopalaswamy Temple, Kumbakonam	Rajagopalaswamy with Sridevi and Bhudevi
15	Varahaperumal Temple, Kumbakonam	Varaha with Bhudevi
16	Vasudeva Perumal Temple	Vasudeva perumal with Sridevi and Bhudevi
17	Veetrirundha Perumal Temple	Veetrindha Perumal with Bhudevi and Niladevi
18	Amrithanarayana Perumal Temple	Amritanarayana Perumal and Amrithavalli Thayar
19	Anandha narayana perumal temple, Abaranadari, Nagapattinam	Anandha narayana perumal and Alankaravalli Thayar
20	Devanarayana Perumal temple, Thevur, Nagapattinam	Deva Narayana Perumal with Sridevi and Bhudevi
21	Varadha Narayana Perumal Temple, Vadakalathur, Nagapattinam	Varadha Narayana Perumal and Perundevi Thayar
22	Yadhava Perumal Temple, Kizhvelur, Nangapattinam	Yadhava Perumal with Sridevi and Bhudevi
23	Sri Veeranarayana Perumal	Veeranarayana Perumal and Maragadhavalli Thayar
24	Sri Renganatha Perumal Temple, Vadarengam	Ranganatha Perumal and Ranganayaki Thayar
25	Bhu Varaha Swamy temple	Varaha and Ambujavalli Thayar
26	Adhirangam Ranganathaswamy temple	Adi Ranganatha Perumal and Ranganayaki Thayar
27	Sri Lakshmi Narasimhswamy Temple,Polur	Narasimha and Kanagavalli Thayar
28	Sri Yoga Rama temple	Yoga Rama and Shengamalavalli Thayar
29	Eri-Katha Ramar Temple	Erikatha Rama and Janakavalli Thayar (Sita)
30	Sundaravarada Perumal temple	Sundaravarada Perumal and Anandavalli Thayar
31	Padalathri Narasimhar Temple	Padalathri Narasimhar and Ahobilavalli Thayar
32	Adikesava Perumal temple, Mylapore	Adi Keshava perumal and Mayuravalli Thayar
33	Madhava Perumal temple, Mylapore	Madhava Perumal and Amrithavalli Thayar
34	Jagannatha Perumal temple	Jaganatha Perumal and Thirumangaivalli Thayar
35	Adikesava Perumal temple, Sriperumpudur	Adi Keshava Perumal and Yathirajavalli Thayar
36	Prasanna Venkatesa Perumal Temple, Thiruparkadal	Venkateshwara and Padmavathy
37	Varadaraja Perumal Temple, Shoolagiri	Varadaraja Perumal and Perundevi Thayar
38	Betrayaswamy Perumal temple,Denkanikottai	Betrayaswamy Perumal and Soundaryavalli Thayar
39	Adi Srinivasa perumal temple, Mookanur, Dharmapuri	Adi moola Srinivasa Perumal and Padmavathy Thayar
40	Kodandaramaswamy Temple, Ayothyapatinam, Salem	Rama with Sita
41	Sundararaja Perumal Temple, Salem	Sundararaja Perumal and Sundaravalli Thayar
42	Narasimhaswamy Temple, Namakkal	Narasimha and Namagiri Thayar
43	Sri Kalyana Venkataramanaswamy, Thanthonimalai	Swayambu Sri Kalyana Venkataramanaswamy and Lakshmi in Vakshasthalam
44	Vedanarayana perumal temple, Thirunarayanapuram	Vedanarayana Perumal and Vedanayaki Thayar
45	Gunaseelam Prasanna Venkatachalapathy Temple	Prasanna Venkatachalapathy and Lakshmi in Vakshasthalam
46	Kattu Narasimhaperumal Temple, Srirangam	Lakshmi Narasimha Perumal And Lakshmi on his lap.
47	Kaliyuga Varadaraja Perumal Temple, Ariyalur	Varadaraja Perumal and Lakshmi in The Vakshasthala
48	Sri Venkatesa Perumal Temple (Melathiruppathi) – Mondipalayam	Shaligrama Srinivasa Perumal
49	Soundararajaperumal temple, Thadikombu	Soundararajaperumal and Soundaravalli
50	Ranganathaswamy temple, Karamadai	Ranganatha Perumal and Ranganayaki Thayar
51	Guruvayur Temple	Guruvayoorapan and Lakshmi in Vakshasthalam
52	Janardanaswamy Temple, Varkala	Janardanaswamy Perumal
53	Panniyur Sri Varahamurthy Temple	Varaha with Bhudevi
54	Ananthapura Lake Temple, Kasaragod	Ananthapadmanabhaswamy Perumal
55	Thirunelli, Maha Vishnu Temple	Maha Vishnu
56	Thirupalkadal Sreekrishnaswamy Temple	Krishna
57	Thriprayar Rama Temple	Rama
58	Koodalmanikyam Temple	Bharata
59	Payammal Shatrughna Temple	Shatrughna
60	Sri Krishna Trichambaram Temple	Raudra Krishna
61	Kanipura Sri Gopalakrishna Temple	Gopalakrishna (Krishna)
62	Maramkulangara Krishna Temple	Krishna
63	Sree Vasudevapuram Mahavishnu Temple	Maha Vishnu and Ashta Lakshmi
64	Sree Poornathrayeesa Temple	Adi Narayana as Santhana gopala murthi
65	Ambalappuzha Sree Krishna Swamy Temple	Krishna
66	Chottanikkara Temple	Lakshmi Narayana
67	Andalurkavu Sri Ramachandramoorthi Temple	Rama
68	Sree Krishna Swami Temple, Thodupuzha	Krishna
69	Evoor Major Sri Krishnaswamy Temple	Krishna
70	Thiruvallam Sree Parasurama Temple	Parashurama
71	Vilwadrinatha Temple	Rama
72	Trikkulasekharapuram Sri Krishna Temple	Krishna
73	Ramapuram Sree Rama Temple	Rama with Sita
74	Varadaraja Perumal, Thiruvenkatanathapuram	Varadaraja Perumal With Sri Devi and Bhoo Devi
75	Thanumalayan Temple	Brahma Vishnu and Shiva
76	Padhmanabhaswamy Perumal temple, Nellaiappar Temple	Anathapadhmanabhaswamy and Gajalakshmi Thayar
77	Sri Varadharaja Perumal Kovil	Varadaraja Perumal and Mahalakshmi Thayar
78	Rajagopalaswamy Manarkoil	Rajagopalaswamy Perumal
79	Kattalagar Perumal Temple	Kallazhagar Perumal
80	Kothandaramaswamy Temple, Rameshwaram	Rama and Seetha Pirati (Sita)
81	Ranganathaswamy Temple, Srirangapatna	Ranganathaswamy and Ranganayaki Devi
82	Ranganathaswamy Temple, Shivanasamudra	Ranganathaswamy and Ranganayaki
83	Cheluvanarayana Swamy Temple	Cheluvanarayana Swamy
84	Gunja Narasimha Swamy Temple, Tirumakudal Narasipura	Narasimha and Lakshmi Devi
85	Udupi Sri Krishna Matha	Krishna
86	Kalady Krishna Temple	Sree Krishnaswamy
87	Narasimha Jharni	Sri Lakshmi Nararasimhswamy
88	Kurmanathaswamy temple, Srikurmam	Kurmanathaswamy and Kurmanayaki Devi
89	Yogananda Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Temple, Mattapalli	Sri Yogananda Lakshmi Narasimha with Rajalakshmi Thayar and Chenchu Lakshmi Thayar
90	Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha temple, Simhachalam	Varaha Narasimha and Simhavalli thayar
91	Sita Ramachandraswamy Temple, Bhadrachalam	Rama with Sita
92	Lakshmi Narasimha Temple, Mangalagiri	Lakshmi Narasimha
93	Kodandarama Temple, Tirupati	Rama with Sita
94	Jagannath Temple, Puri	Jaganatha
95	Chakra Narasimha Temple	Chakra Narasimha
96	Vithoba Temple	Vithoba and Rakhumai
97	Alarnatha Mandira	Maha Vishnu as Jaganatha (Azhwarnathar)
98	Jyotisar	Krishna
99	Narayan Sarovar	Maha Vishnu
100	Sakhigopal Temple	Gopinatha
101	Khirachora Gopinatha Temple	Gopinatha
102	Charbhuja Nath Temple	Charbhuja Nath
103	Vishnuprayag	Maha Vishnu as Theertham
104	Vishnupad Temple, Gaya	Maha Vishnu
105	Tri Yugi Narayanaswamy Temple	Narayana and Lakshmi
106	Narasimha temple, Jyothir Math	Narasimha
107	Adi Keshava Temple, Kashi	Adi Keshava
108	Yoga-Narasimha Swamy Temple	Saligrama Yoga Narasimha

External links

• Other Important Vaishnavite temples
• T., Padmaja (2002). Temples of Kr̥ṣṇa in South India: history, art, and traditions in Tamilnāḍu. New Delhi: Shakti Malik. ISBN 81-7017-398-1.
• Shrine design: Pristine glory
• https://www.newindianexpress.com/cities/chennai/2018/oct/04/the-temple-where-sri-ramanujar-is-celebrated-as-a-grihastha-1880704.html
• "Sri Adi Ranganathaswamy temple". Dinamalar. Archived from the original on 2 May 2012. Retrieved 9 April 2017.