Srivilliputhur Andal Temple: the gopuram on Tamil Nadu’s emblem

Look closely at the official emblem of the Government of Tamil Nadu and you will see a temple tower rising behind the state motto. That soaring gateway is widely identified with Srivilliputhur, a small temple town in Virudhunagar district where an eleven-tiered gopuram climbs some 59 metres — around 192 feet — above the plains. Beneath it lies the Srivilliputhur Andal Temple, one of the 108 Divya Desams sacred to Vaishnavas and, by tradition, the birthplace of Andal, the only woman among the twelve Alvar poet-saints.

The gopuram on the state emblem

The rajagopuram, or main gateway tower, is what gives Srivilliputhur its fame far beyond South India. Rising in eleven diminishing tiers to about 59 metres, its white-and-ochre form crowned with a row of golden finials is a landmark visible for miles across the flat countryside. The tower is popularly held to be the model for the gopuram that appears on the Tamil Nadu state emblem, and the association has made this small town’s skyline one of the most reproduced images in the state. It is worth noting that the attribution is a matter of some debate — the artist credited with the emblem is said to have pointed instead to the Meenakshi temple in Madurai — but in popular imagination and in state tourism material the Srivilliputhur tower and the emblem are firmly linked.

Andal, the poet-saint

According to Vaishnava devotional tradition, the temple garden was where the saint Periyalvar found a baby girl beneath a tulasi (holy basil) plant and raised her as his own, naming her Kodhai. She grew up, the hagiography relates, so absorbed in her love of Vishnu that she would garland herself with the flowers meant for the deity before offering them — earning the name Andal, "she who ruled" the lord through devotion. To her are attributed two of Tamil Vaishnavism’s best-loved works: the Tiruppavai, thirty verses recited through the winter month of Margazhi, and the Nachiyar Tirumozhi. Both Andal and her foster father Periyalvar are counted among the twelve Alvars, the poet-saints whose Tamil hymns form the Nalayira Divya Prabandham, which makes Srivilliputhur unusual as the birthplace of two of them. These accounts are cherished as sacred story rather than documented biography.

The temple and its worship

The complex is really two temples set side by side. In the north-eastern division, Vishnu reclines as Vatapatrasayi (also written Vadabadrasayi), attended by his consorts and by sages; in the south-western division stands the shrine of Andal together with Rangamannar, the form of Vishnu she is said to have married. As a Divya Desam — one of the abodes of Vishnu praised in the hymns of the Alvars — the temple draws pilgrims following the ancient Prabandham circuit, and its daily rituals follow the Vaishnava tradition. The stone corridors, pillared halls and painted ceilings reward a slow walk, and the towering gopuram frames the entrance to the whole ensemble.

Festivals and the famous palkova

The temple’s signature festival is Aadi Pooram, held in the Tamil month of Aadi (July–August), which celebrates the tradition of Andal being found and adopted by Periyalvar. A grand car festival, in which the deities are drawn through the streets on a towering wooden temple chariot, is among the most spectacular events of the calendar. No visit is complete without the town’s other claim to fame: Srivilliputhur palkova, a dense, caramel-toned milk sweet made from just milk and sugar, sold in the lanes around the temple. The sweet earned a Geographical Indication (GI) tag in 2019, recognising a local craft that tradition traces back to a stall set up near the Andal temple in the 1920s; on busy days the town’s makers turn out well over a tonne of it.

Around Srivilliputhur, and visiting

Srivilliputhur sits against the eastern slopes of the Western Ghats, and the hills behind it are as much a draw as the temple. The Grizzled Giant Squirrel Wildlife Sanctuary, established in 1988 to protect the near-threatened grizzled giant squirrel, spreads across these forests and now forms the core of the Srivilliputhur–Megamalai Tiger Reserve. Trekkers and pilgrims also head to the forest tract at Shenbagathoppu and to the remote Shiva shrines of the Sathuragiri hills. The town lies about 80 km from Madurai, the nearest major transport hub, and makes an easy day trip or an overnight stop; dress modestly for the temple and expect security checks at the gopuram entrance.

Planning a wider temple journey through the south? Pair this with our guides to the Divya Desams of Tamil Nadu at /india/tamil-nadu/guides/divya-desams-of-tamil-nadu and to temple etiquette at /india/tamil-nadu/guides/tamil-nadu-temple-etiquette.