Andal Temple, Srivilliputhur

Deity

Andal (Kodhai) and Rangamannar, with the gopuram on the state emblem

Where

Virudhunagar, Tamil Nadu · 9.51N 77.63E

Usual hours

6 am – 12.30 pm, 4 pm – 8.30 pm — hours change with festivals and the season; check before travelling. Were these right when you went?

Grahas

Sukran

Visited for

Where Andal was found under the tulasi and married the Lord. Margazhi and Aadi Pooram, her birthday, are its days; the first Perumal temple named for a girl’s marriage.

The sthala purana has it that Periyazhwar, who kept a garden of tulasi for the Perumal, found a girl child under the plants and brought her up as Kodhai. She grew up in that garden and in that worship.

Every day she is said to have put on the garland made for the Perumal and looked at herself in the well before it was taken to the shrine. When her father found out he was appalled and offered a fresh garland instead; the sthala purana has it that the Perumal refused it and asked for the one she had worn.

She would not marry a man, and was taken to Srirangam and married to Ranganatha, and is said to have gone into the sanctum and not come out. She is Andal, the only woman among the Azhwars, and the Thiruppavai she composed is sung through Margazhi in every Tamil Vaishnava house.

Srivilliputhur is a Divya Desam, and it is the home of two Azhwars — Periyazhwar and Andal. The Thiruppavai and the Nachiyar Thirumozhi both belong to this place.

The temple’s tall gopuram is the tower used on the emblem of the state of Tamil Nadu.

The complex is two temples: the Vatapatrasayi shrine, where the Perumal reclines, and the Andal shrine with its own enclosure, garden and well.

The gopuram over the Andal temple is very tall and narrow and dominates the town from every direction.

The garden and the well where Andal is said to have looked at herself in the garland are shown, and the daily garland for the Perumal is still made here and sent to Srirangam and Tirupati.

Aadi Pooram, kept as Andal’s birthday, is the temple’s largest day, and the town fills for it.

Margazhi is the month: the Thiruppavai is recited every morning for thirty days. The Chithirai car festival and Andal’s Thirukalyanam are the other days.

Also called

Vatapatrasayi Temple, Andal Kovil

Reaching it

Srivilliputhur is about 75 km south-west of Madurai in Virudhunagar district, on the road towards Sankarankovil. It has a railway station of its own.

• Sankara Narayanasamy Temple, Sankarankovil 39.4 km · Saiva
• Kazhugumalai Murugan Temple 42.1 km · Murugan
• Kuchanur Sanieswarar Temple 55.9 km · Saiva
• Sabarimala Sri Dharmasastha Temple 61 km · Ayyappa
• Thirupparamkunram Subramanya Swamy Temple 63.4 km · Murugan
• Bhuminathar Temple, Thiruchuli 63.6 km · Saiva

Been to this temple? The things that change — whether the hours on this page were right, whether the sannidhi was open, how long the queue was on a Saturday — are exactly what no printed source keeps current, and what the next person travelling here needs.

• Were the hours right when you went?
• Is anything on this page wrong or out of date?
• A photograph of the gopuram, the tank, or the notice board

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