Long time ago, there where the 4000 divya prabanthas that were sung by 12 different Alwars. Ramanujar found out these lost prabanthas and recreated them. So the temples that were mentioned by these alwars in the Divya prabantham are the 108 Divya Desams.

The 105 are spread across India with 2 outside the earthly realms and one in Nepal. Tamil Nadu(84), Kerala(11), Andhra Pradesh(2), Gujarat(1), Uttar Pradesh(4), Uttarakhand(3). The last two are Thirupalkadal and Paramapadam