01Periyalvar’s blessing
Sri Vaishnava tradition tells that the Pandya king Vallabhadeva called scholars to his court to declare the highest truth, with a purse of gold hung from a pole as the prize. Vishnuchittar, a temple gardener from Srivilliputhur, proved that Narayana is the supreme, and the purse bent down to him. The king had him paraded on an elephant through Madurai, and Vishnu appeared in the sky on Garuda to see it. Fearing that some evil eye might fall on the Lord, the old devotee sang a blessing over him, ‘Pallandu, pallandu’, many years, many years. That is Thiruppallandu, sung first in every Vishnu temple of the Tamil land, and Vishnuchittar became Periyalvar.
02Three Vishnus in one tower
The ashtanga vimana rises in three tiers. On the ground Koodal Azhagar sits; above him Surya Narayana stands; at the top Ksheerabdhi Natha reclines on the serpent. Devotees climb narrow stairs to see each in turn. Koodal is an old name of Madurai itself, the meeting place, where the Tamil Sangams were held. Unusually for a Vishnu temple, there is a shrine of the Navagrahas within the complex.
The life of this place
- Alvar periodPeriyalvar sings Thiruppallandu at Madurai in the court of Vallabhadeva.
- Nayaka periodMandapas and the gopuram are enlarged under the Madurai Nayakas.
About 1 km south-west of the Meenakshi temple, near the Madurai railway station.
