Srivilliputhur Andal Temple

The Srivilliputhur Andal Temple in Srivilliputhur, a town in Virudhunagar district in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, 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. The temple is located 80 km from Madurai. Constructed in the Tamil 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.

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 worn the garland before dedicating it to the presiding deity of the temple. Periyalvar, who later found it, was highly upset and stopped the practice. 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. Ranganatha of Srirangam Ranganathaswamy temple married Andal, who later merged with him.

The temple has two divisions – the one of Andal located on 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 temple, some of which are still present.

The samprokshanam ritual of the Andal temple was performed on 20 January 2016 by Tamil Nadu Government.

Vatapatrasayi is believed to have appeared to Andal, Periyalvar and sages Markandeya and Bhrigu. The temple follows 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 15th century. The temple is maintained and administered by the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department of the Government of Tamil Nadu.