Srivilliputhur Andal Temple (Vatapatrasayi)
ஸ்ரீவில்லிபுத்தூர் ஆண்டாள் கோயில் (வடபத்ரசாயி)
Why this temple matters
At Srivilliputhur, Vishnu reclines as Vatapatrasayi beside the shrine of Andal — the girl-saint who loved him as her bridegroom. Its towering rajagopuram is the emblem of Tamil Nadu, and its Thiruppavai is sung through the whole month of Margazhi.
History
Srivilliputhur, in the Pandya country of southern Tamil Nadu, is honoured as the home of Andal — Kodhai, the only woman among the twelve Alvar saints. Tradition holds that Periyalvar, her foster father, found her as an infant beneath a tulsi plant in the temple garden, and that she grew up loving Vishnu so wholly that she wore the garlands meant for him and would take no other bridegroom. The temple is a Divya Desam, one of the 108 abodes of Vishnu sung by the Alvars, and its presiding lord is Vatapatrasayi, worshipped alongside Andal in her own celebrated shrine.
Architecture
Built in the Dravidian manner and enlarged under later patrons, the temple is crowned by a soaring eleven-tiered rajagopuram, one of the tallest in the land — so emblematic that it is the official emblem of the Government of Tamil Nadu. Within, the lord Vatapatrasayi reclines upon the serpent, while Andal is enshrined in her adjoining temple; pillared halls and painted ceilings carry the devotional art of the deep south.
Legends
Andal's love is the temple's living legend: she is said to have offered Vishnu garlands she had first worn herself, and her Thiruppavai and Nachiyar Tirumozhi remain among the most beloved of Tamil devotional poems. In the end, tradition tells, she was united with Ranganatha of Srirangam and merged into the lord — the only Alvar, and the only woman, to be so wedded to the divine. Her festival marriage to Ranganatha is re-enacted here each year.
Festivals
The month of Margazhi belongs to Andal, when her Thiruppavai is chanted daily in homes and temples across the Tamil country. Aadi Pooram, celebrating her appearance, and the festival of her wedding to Ranganatha draw great crowds, with processions through the temple town beneath its great tower.
The Experience
To stand before Andal's shrine is to enter one of the most intimate devotions in the Tamil tradition — a saint who is also a bride. Pilgrims come for the Thiruppavai season and for the sight of the rajagopuram rising over the town, a landmark carried on the emblem of the state itself.