Nūpura — The Divine Anklets of Bhagavān
The Nūpura refers to the sacred anklets that adorn the divine feet of Bhagavān Śrī Vaikuṇṭhanātha and His consort Pirāṭṭi. Among all of Bhagavān's countless divine ornaments (ābharaṇams), the Nūpura holds a place of singular theological importance in the Śrī Vaiṣṇava tradition, for it is intimately connected with the very site of prapatti — the sacred feet (tiruvaṭi) at which the surrendered soul takes refuge.
The sound produced by the Nūpura — known as nūpura-nāda — is celebrated across the Āzhvār literature as one of the most captivating and spiritually arresting of all divine sounds. Nammāzhvār, in the Tiruvāymozhi, describes how this gentle, rhythmic tinkling accompanies every movement of Bhagavān's feet, drawing the hearts of devotees toward Him with irresistible sweetness. Just as the Vedas declare Bhagavān to be the innermost refuge of all sentient beings, the Nūpura-nāda is said to speak this truth at a level beyond words — it beckons the cit (conscious being) back toward the feet that are its only true home.
In the temple tradition of the Śrī Vaiṣṇava Sampradāya, the Nūpura is one of the prescribed ornaments offered during nityārādhanam (daily worship). The priest adorns the mūlavar and utsavar images with anklets appropriate to each occasion, and the sight (darśanam) of these glistening ornaments on Bhagavān's divine feet is itself considered a form of prasāda. Āchāryas have taught that meditating upon the Nūpura-adorned feet of Bhagavān — visualising the divine anklets as one performs prapatti — grounds the act of surrender in the concrete and beloved form of the Lord, rather than leaving it as an abstraction.