The Sri Vaishnava tradition takes its own name from Sri, the goddess Lakshmi, whom it holds as eternally and inseparably united with Vishnu rather than as a separate deity who happens to accompany him. The Theology of Ramanuja describes Sri and Narayana, another name for Vishnu, as addressed together as a single divine pair, so that approaching one without the other is, in the tradition's own terms, not a coherent option for a worshipper. Her distinctive theological role is purushakara, mediation or intercession: the soul's act of surrender, prapatti, to Vishnu is understood to proceed through her, and her presence is described as softening Vishnu's justice with a mercy of her own, the way a queen might intercede with a king on behalf of a petitioner who could not otherwise approach him directly. This mediating role gives Sri a functional importance in the tradition's soteriology that goes well beyond that of a consort figure in most other Vaishnava schools, since without her intercession the tradition's account of how surrender actually reaches Vishnu would be missing a necessary step. Sri Vaishnava temple iconography makes the pairing visually explicit, showing her seated permanently on Vishnu's chest as Sridevi, a placement the tradition reads as making his very heart the seat of the compassion she supplies to soften his judgment of the soul who approaches him.