Thiruninravur Divya Desam - Bhaktavatshala Perumal

• Meditation: I meditate on Sri Bhaktavatshala Perumal at Thiruninravur who came here from Vaikuntha in search of Devi Lakshmi and stayed for some time.

• Thiruninravur Divya Kshetra: Thiruninravur is a Divya Desam whose glory was sung by Thirumangai Alvar. Thirumangai Alvar did not directly sing the glory of the Lord while visiting this place. But later when he visited Mahabalipuram and Thirukannapuram, he sung that he was seeing the Lord of Thiruninravur in those places. Thiruninravur is derived from Thiru and Ninravur. Thiru means Wealth signifying goddess Lakshmi and Ninravur means where She stopped or stayed. According to legend, Devi Lakshmi after a misunderstanding with the Lord left Vaikuntha and stayed in this place for sometime. Later Samudraraja and Lord Vishnu also came here and stayed for sometime. Since the Lord stayed here, this place is also known as Srinivasa Kshetram. Thiruninravur is also holy to the Shaivites and they have a different interpretation of the name. According to them, the name Thiruninravur is derived from Thiri which means wick of lamp and Ninravur which means where it stopped. During a dispute with the Jainism two lamps were floated on the Coovam river to test the power of the respective religious sects. The lamp of the Shaivites became brighter and reached this place. According to them name of the place is derived from this incident.

• Devi Lakshmi and Lord Vishnu staying here: Once there was a misunderstanding between Lord Vishnu and Devi Lakshmi in Vaikuntha. Devi Lakshmi left Vaikuntha, came to this place and stayed here for sometime. Knowing this, Samudraraja, her father, also came here and stayed for sometime near the tank known as Varuna Pushkarini. Later, Lord Vishnu also came here searching for her, and stayed here for sometime. Since the Lord stayed in this place, it is also known as Srinivasa Kshetram.

• Image: The image of Lord Vishnu here is in standing posture.

• Thiruninravur is located in the Chennai district of Tamil Nadu.

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