Temple
The Srivilliputhur Andal Temple in
Srivilliputhur, a town in Virudhunagar
district in the South Indian state of Tamil
Nadu is dedicated to the Hindu god
Vishnu. It is located 80 km from Madurai.
Constructed in the Dravidian style of
architecture, the temple is glorified in the
Nalayira Divya Prabandham, the early
medieval Tamil canon of the Alvar saints
from the 6th–9th centuries CE. It is one of
the 108 Divya Desams dedicated to Vishnu, who is worshipped as Vatapatrasayi and
his consort Lakshmi as Andal. It is
believed to be the birthplace of two of the
Alvars, namely Periyalvar and his foster daughter, Andal. [1]
Religion
District
Festivals
Aani Alvar Uthsavam
(June–July)
Thiruvadipooram
(August) Purattasi
Utsavam (October)
(December–January)
Panguni
Thirukkalyana
Utsavam (March–
April)
Location
State
Country
Architecture
Type
Creator
Chola, Pandia, Vijayanagara
Kings
Specifications
Temple(s)
3 (Vatapatrasayi,
Andal and Periyalvar)
Elevation
177 m (581 ft)
Website
srivilliputhurandaltemple. three.in (http://srivi
lliputhurandaltemple.three.in)
The temple is associated with the life of
Andal, who was found under a Tulasi plant
in the garden inside the temple by
Periyalvar. She is believed to have worn
the garland before dedicating it to the
the presiding deity of the temple. Periyalvar,
who later found it, was highly upset and
stopped the practice. It is believed, Vishnu
appeared in his dream and asked him to
dedicate the garland worn by Andal to him
daily, which is a practice followed during
the modern times. It is also believed that
Ranganathaswamy temple married Andal, who later merged with him.
The temple has two divisions – the one of
Andal is located in the Southwest and the
second one of Vatapatrasayi on the
Northeast direction. A granite wall
surrounds the temple, enclosing all its
shrines, the garden where Andal is
believed to have been born and two of its
three bodies of water. The Vijayanagar and
Nayak kings commissioned paintings on
the walls of the shrine of the temple, some of
which are still present.
The samprokshanam ritual of the Andal
the temple was performed on 20 January
2016 by Tamil Nadu Government. [2]
Vatapatrasayi is believed to have appeared
to Andal, Periyalvar and sages
Markandeya and Bhrigu. [3] The temple
follows the Thenkalai tradition of worship. Six daily rituals and three yearly festivals are
held at the temple, of which the
Aadipooram festival, the birthday of Andal,
celebrated during the Tamil month of Adi (July - August), is the most prominent. The
Rajagopura was built by Vijayanagar Kings
during the 15th century. The temple is
maintained and administered by the Hindu
Religious and Charitable Endowments
Department of the Government of Tamil
Nada.
As per Hindu legend, the land around
Srivilliputhur was under the rule of Queen
Malli. The queen had two sons called Villi
and Kandan. While the two were hunting in
a forest, a tiger killed Kandan. Unaware of
this Villi searched for his brother, got tired
and fell asleep. In his dream, divinity
narrated to him what happened to his
brother. By divine orders, Villi founded a
city. The city is originally named after its
founder, Villi forming the word Sri-Villi-
Puthur. [4] Srivilliputtur is known by other
names such as Varaha kshetra,
Thenpuduvai, Vadeswarapuram,
Vadamahadamapuram, Shenbagaranya
kshetra, Vikrama Chola Chaturvedi
Mangalam, and Sridhanvipuri. [5]
Legend
The garden where Periyalvar is believed to have found the child Andal
The tower is viewed from an angle
As per the ancient scriptures, the place
was referred to as Varaha Kshetra. It was a
a dense forest named Champaka where the
sages Bhrgu and Markandeya were doing penance and had their hermitages in the
place. A demon named Kalanerai was
troubling the sages and they prayed to
Vishnu to relieve them from the demon.
Vishnu was pleased by their devotion and
appeared in the place to slay the demon.
He is believed to have taken the abode in
the forest reclining on Adisesha, his serpent bed, on the leaf of a banyan tree.
The place thus came to be known as
Vadaveshwarapuram. [5]
Periyalvar (originally called Vishnuchittar)
was an ardent devotee of Vishnu and he
used to string garlands to Vishnu every day.
He was childless and he prayed to Vishnu
to save him from the longing. One day, he
found a girl child under a Tulasi plant in a
the garden inside the temple. He and his wife
named the child Kothai, who grew up as
a devotee of Krishna, an avatar of Vishnu.
She is believed to have worn the garland
before dedicating it to the presiding deity
of the temple. Periyalvar, who later found
it was highly upset and remonstrated her.
Vishnu appeared in his dream and asked
him to dedicate only to the garland worn by
Andal to him. The girl Kothai was thus
named Andal and was referred as
Chudikodutha Sudarkodi (the lady who gave
her garland to Vishnu). The practice is
followed during modern times when the
garland of Andal is sent to Azhagar Koyil
on Chitra Pournami day when the
presiding deity Lord Kallazhagar entering
into River Vaigai with the garland worn by
[Garudostavam during the Tamil month of Puratasi (September - October)]. [5] It is also
believed that Ranganatha of Srirangam
Ranganathaswamy temple married Andal,
who later merged with the idol. Andal was
taken in a palanquin from Srivilliputhur to
Srirangam before the marriage. [6] Since
Andal married Ranganatha, who came as a
king (called Raja), the presiding deity is
called Rangamannar. [7]
History
Tamil Nadu State's Emblem
The history of Srivilliputhur centres around
the Srivilliputhur Andal Temple, dedicated
to Andal. [8] It is argued that the temple of Vatapatrasayi is present since the 8th
century, but there are epigraphic records
are available only from the 10th century
CE. The view that the Andal temple was
built during the 14th century is highly
debated. [7] The temple has inscriptions
from Chola, Pandya and Vijayanagar
Nayakkar Kings, spanning various
centuries from the 10th to 16th centuries.
As per some accounts, the original
the structure was constructed by Tribuvana
Chakravarthy Konerinmai Kondan
Kulasekaran and the Andal temple and 194
feet Rajagopura was built by Barathi Rayar
of Vijayanagar king. [5]
During the reign of Thirumalai Nayak
(1623–1659) and Rani Mangammal
(1689–1706), this city became very
popular. Thirumalai Nayak renovated all
the temples of this city. He installed
countries, temple tanks, paintings and
golden towers inside the temple. The
sculptures in the hall leading to the shrine
of Andal were also built by him. [5] From
1751 to 1756 CE, Srivilliputhur came under
the rule of Nerkattumseval palayakkarar
and was a maravarpalayam. [9] Then it fell
into the hands of Mohammed Yousoof
Khan. Until 1850, Sri Andal temple was
under the care of the king of Travancore.
The British ruled the country till India
attained freedom in 1947. The temple's
gateway tower, 192 ft (59 m) tall and is
believed that this is the official symbol of
the Government of Tamil Nadu (Sri Vatapatrasayi Temple Tower). [10] But the
an artist who designed the emblem for the
state of Tamil Nadu Thiru.Krishna Rao
denied that it is not the temple of
Srivilliputhur rather it is Meenakshi
Temple's West Gopuram.[11] During the
modern times, the temple is maintained
and administered by the Hindu Religious
and Charitable Endowments Department
of the Government of Tamil Nadu. [12]
The vimana (ceiling) of the Vadapathrasayee shrine
The temple has two divisions – the one of
Andal is located in the Southwest and the
the second one is Vatapatrasayi (Vishnu) on
the Northeast direction. A granite wall
surrounds the temple, enclosing all its
shrines, the garden where Andal was
found and two of its three bodies of water.
The raja gopuram, the temple's gateway
tower, 192 ft (59 m) tall. The tower is
originally believed to have been built by
Periyalvar with the prize money he
obtained from religious debates in the
court of Vallaba Pandya in Madurai. [5]
The Andal shrine houses the image of
Andal and Rangamannar. Garuda, who brought Ranganathar, the divine
bridegroom, from Srirangam, is also
housed in the same shrine. The walls
around the shrine has paintings of the life
of Andal. The second hall from the
entrance towards the sanctum, the
Kalyana Mandapa houses huge life-size
sculptures of Mohini, Rama, Kamadeva,
Rati, and many other deities. [5]
The Vatapatrasayi division has two
precincts. The sanctum in the second level
approached through a flight of steps
houses the image of Vatapatrasayi in a
reclining posture and his consorts,
Lakshmi (Sridevi) and Bhudevi, are shown attending to him at his feet. Sage Bhrigu
stands near his head and sage
Markandeya is near his feet. The banyan
a tree whose leaf is known as Vatapatram,
on which Vishnu is said to rest in the form
of a baby during the deluge, is at his head,
behind Bhrigu. Images of Panchamurtis -
Tumburu, Narada, the Sanatkumaras, Kinnara Mithuna, the sun and the moon
gods are shown all around Rangamannar
as well as representations of Villi and
Puttan is seen at his feet. The sanctum
has three doorways from which the
the presiding deity can be seen. The hall
leading to the sanctum, Bhopala villa,
has a hall with detailed teakwood
carvings depicting incidents from the
Puranas and the ten avatars of Vishnu, the
Dashavatara. There are a set of carvings that decorate the ceiling. [5]
The temple houses some rare
Vijayanagara sculptures similar to the
ones present in Soundararajaperumal
Temple, Thadikombu, Krishnapuram
Venkatachalapathy temple, Alagar Koyil
and Jalakandeswarar Temple, Vellore. [13]
The composite columns of Virabhadra
holding sword and horn are found be
additions of the Vijayanagara kings
during the early 1500s. Similar columns of
Virabhadra is found in Adikesava
Perumal Temple at Thiruvattaru,
Meenakshi Temple at Madurai, Nellaiappar
Temple at Tirunelveli, Kasi Viswanathar
temple at Tenkasi, Krishnapuram
Rameswaram, Soundararajaperumal
temple at Thadikombu, Srivaikuntanathan
Perumal temple at Srivaikuntam,
Avudayarkovil, Vaishnava Nambi and
Thirukurungudivalli Nachiar temple at
Religious significance
Srivilliputtur finds mention in
Brahmakaivatsapuranam and Varaha
pranam. Varaha Purana foretells the
existence of Srivilliputtur and the
consequent visit of Vishnu in his Varaha
form. Brahmakaivatsa puranam mentions
the location of Vatapatrasayi Temple in
Srivilliputtur.
Srivilliputhur has a significant place in
Vaishnava philosophy and worship
practices. The Srivilliputtur Divya Desam
has a unique distinction among all other
Divya Desams of being the birthplace of
two important Alvars among the twelve
Alvars, Periyalvar, who became the father-
an in-law of the Ranganatha himself and
Andal who was the incarnation of Bhudevi
and attained union with the Ranganathan
at Srirangam.[7] Andal is the only female
Alvar saint of the 12 Alvar saints of South
India. She is credited with the Tamil works
of Thirupavai and Nachiar Tirumoli that are still recited by devotees during the Winter
the festival season of Margali. The town
wakes up to the sounds of Thiruppavai is
believed to lead to a sublime atmosphere
throughout the day. [5]
Andal is known for her unwavering
devotion to the god Vishnu, the supreme deity of the Sri Vaishnavas. Adopted by her father, Periyalvar, Andal avoided earthly
marriage, the normal and expected path
for women of her culture, to marry Vishnu.
In many places in India, particularly in
Tamil Nadu, Andal is treated more than a saint and as a form of god herself and a
shrine for Andal is dedicated in most
practices
Andal temple car
1960 (kept idle for 18
years)
The temple follows the Thenkalai tradition of worship. [16] The temple priests perform
the pooja (rituals) during festivals and daily. Like other Vishnu temples of
In Tamil Nadu, the priests belong to the
Vaishnava community, from the Brahmin
class. The temple rituals are performed in six
times a day: Ushathkalam at 7 a.m.,
Kalasanthi at 8:00 a.m., Uchikalam at
Noon, Sayarakshai at 6:00 p.m.,
Irandamkalam at 7:00 p.m. and Ardha
Jamam at 10:00 p.m. Each ritual has three
steps: alangaram (decoration),
neivethanam (food offering) and Deepa
aradanai (waving of lamps) for both
Vatapatrasayi and Andal. During the last
step of worship, nagaswaram (pipe instrument) and travel (percussion instrument) are played, religious
instructions in the Vedas (sacred text) are recited by priests and worshippers
prostrate themselves in front of the temple
mast. There are weekly, monthly and
fortnightly rituals performed in the
Temple.[17]
Thousands of people from the state
participate in the "Aadi Pooram" festival
celebrated in the Andal Temple. After early
morning special pujas, the presiding
deities, Sri Rengamannar and Goddess
Andal are taken in decorated palanquins to
the car. [18] The festival marks the adoption
of the presiding deity, Andal, by Periyalvar
after he found her near a Tulasi plant in the
garden of Vatapatrasayi Temple at
Srivilliputhur on the eighth day of the Tamil
the month of Adi.[19][20] The temple car[21] was
originally very heavy (40 m tall and 650
tonnes) and it took days to take it back to
the original position. Before 2000, the
practise of drawing the temple car during
the yearly festival was suspended. With
the efforts of Vanamamalai Jeer, the head
of a monastic institution, the temple car
was modified with hydraulic wheels to
ease the movement. [5] Kumbabishekam,
the consecration of the Andal temple
happened on 20 January 2016. Golden
filial were also installed for the Andal temple.
Fridays and Saturdays are considered the
the ideal time to visit the temple.[2]
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