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The temple town of Srivilliputhur alias Thiruvilliputtur is located in
Virudhunagar District around 74 kilometers from Madurai. The place is
celebrated for its Thiruvilliputhur Andal Kovil or Srivilliputtur Vatapatrasayi
Temple or Thiruvilliputhur Divya Desam.
Believed to be built by Nayak kings, Sri Andal Temple is
one of the 108 Divya Desams, the most important abodes of Lord Vishnu.
It is about 2000 year old. The temple is the birth place of Periyazhvar
and Andal the most important Alwars (saints) in the Vaishnavite tradition.
There are shrines to Andal (where she was discovered in a garden) and
Periyazhvar here.
The gopura in front of the temple is 60 m high, making
it one of the tallest in Tamil Nadu. The tower is very attractive and
it serves as the official emblem of Government of Tamil Nadu.
Between the two, there is a garden where Andal, accoding
to legend was found as a baby by Perialvar, who then brought her up. The
Andal Shrine, according to tradition, was built by Perialvar on his return
from Srirangam, with images of herself, Lord Rangamannar and Garuda.
The temple is entered from the east, through a lesser
gopura which stands at the end of a long colonnade. The shrine of the
Lord is on an upper floor, access to which is by a flight of steps. Infront
of the main shrine, there is an exquisite small mandapa. It has portraits
of Tirumala Nayak of Madurai, his queens and his brother. The Nayak portrait
is a splendid work of art. It is covered with copper sheets, embossed
with gold.
There are typically huge baroque sculptures on the pillars
of some of the mandapas here. There are ten in the Dhwajasthambha Mandapa
and eight in the Ekadashi Mandapa. There are paintings in the outer mandapa.
The rath of this temple is one of the biggest in South
India. A gigantic strucutre, carrying carvings from the scriptures, it
is said to have been made in 1849 at the cost of a lakh rupees, a large
sum in those days .
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Pilgrim Centers 
