and its concept of God is complex and depends upon each individual and the tradition and philosophy followed. It is sometimes referred to as henotheistic (i.e., involving devotion to a single god while accepting the existence of others), but any such term is an overgeneralisation. The major worship forms of Shiva temples are for Shiva, Parvati, Ganesha, and Murugan. Vishnu is either worshipped directly, or in the form of his ten avatars, the most famous of whom are Rama and Krishna. Perumal Perumal (), also rendered Thirumal, is a form of Vishnu worshipped in the Sri Vaishnava tradition. He is also venerated by the epithets of Narayana, Varadharaja, Rangaraja, Ranganatha, Kallalagar, Govindaraja, and several others in his temples scattered throughout the Tamil country. Originally venerated as the god of the forests, Perumal was assimilated with Vaishnavism, having earlier conceived been as either a pantheistic or a monotheistic divinity. Through the concept of bhakti, first introduced to the region by the Alvars, Vaishnavism became among the oldest faiths to influence the Tamil people. The deity, and his consort Lakshmi, as well as her aspects of Sridevi, Bhudevi, and Niladevi, are primarily venerated, and are also represented as the Dashavatara in Perumal temples in Tamil Nadu. He is the deity who is primarily addressed in the Naalayira Divya Prabandham, a compilation of works by the Alvar saints, whose philosophy and hymns were propagated in the works of Ramanuja, Manavala Mamunigal, and Vedanta Desikan. The largest Hindu temple in India is dedicated to Perumal in his form of Ranganathaswamy, situated at Srirangam. The Alvars influenced the establishment of the Divya Desams, 108 shrines of Perumal that were glorified in their works, which continue to be visited as major shrines of pilgrimage by Tamil Vaishnavas. Pillayar Ganesha, also spelled Ganesa or Ganesh, also known as Ganapati, Vinayaka, and Pillaiyar (), is one of the deities best-known and most widely worshipped in the Hindu pantheon. Ganesa is the first son of Shiva and is given the primary importance in all Shiva temples with all worship starting from him. Local legend states the Tamil word Pillayar splits into Pillai and yaar meaning who is this son, but scholars believe it is derived from the Sanskrit word pulisara meaning elephant. K. A. Nilakanta Sastri (1963:57-58) thinks that Pallavas adopted the Ganesa motif from Chalukyas. During the 7th century, Vatapi Ganapati idol was brought from Badami (Vatapi -