Ulagalantha Perumal Temple is a Vishnu temple in Kanchipuram and one of the 108 Divya Desams sung by the Alvar saints, where the presiding deity is worshipped as Ulagalantha Perumal ('he who measured the worlds') and his consort as Amuthavalli. The main sanctum enshrines a strikingly tall standing image of Vishnu as Trivikrama, with the left leg raised parallel to the ground, an iconography tradition connects to the Vamana (dwarf) avatar and the legend of King Mahabali.
Entry rules not verified for this temple. Some Hindu temples admit only Hindus, and most enforce a dress code at the door. We have not verified the rule for this particular temple, so please check before you travel — especially if you are not Hindu or are visiting from outside India.
We report each site's own published rules neutrally, and only where we can source them.
The temple is notable for housing what tradition counts as several Divya Desams within one complex, including Tiru Ooragam in the main sanctum. Historians consider it among the oldest temples in Kanchipuram, with inscriptions dating back over a thousand years to the Pallava and later periods, and it carries a multi-tiered rajagopuram over its entrance.
Road km to Kancheepuram; ghat roads and traffic vary — allow extra.
Visit in the cooler months and during morning hours for a calmer, less crowded darshan.
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Sun and moon are calculated for this location and shown in IST. Photography windows are the hour around sunrise and sunset; the sunset bearing is degrees clockwise from true north. Moon phase is accurate to about half a day.
Verified hotels, homestays, restaurants, experiences, sights, shops and rentals around Ulagalantha Perumal Temple — commission-free, with direct contact. Filter by what you need.
The largest and most conventional hotel in the town, on Gandhi Road about a kilometre south of the bus stand — 1.06 km by a routed walk. GRT's own page describes 30-odd rooms: three Standard at 160 sq ft and twenty-nine Deluxe at 161 sq ft, with a choice of queen or twin beds, plus a multi-cuisine restaurant, two banquet halls and an in-house gym, and the group lists the property as pet-friendly. Note that GRT markets it as a hotel near the Kamakshi temple; the temple is on the far side of the bus stand from here, so read that as the same town rather than the same street. We have not stayed. Everything above is from the hotel's own website rather than a review aggregator, and we publish no rates because the hotel prices its own rooms.
The Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation's own hotel in the town — the state-run option, of the kind TTDC keeps at most of the pilgrimage centres. It stands on Railway Road out to the north-east, 1.23 km from the bus stand by a routed walk, and the useful fact about it is what it is next to: 257 metres by footpath from Kanchipuram East station, the town's original railway station, which is why local directions still place it opposite the old station. Rooms are the usual TTDC pattern of plain twin-bed air-conditioned and non-air-conditioned units. ⚠ We could not read a current room count, tariff or facility list on TTDC's own booking portal and would rather say so than repeat an aggregator's figures. Book through ttdconline.com and confirm at the counter.
A small guest house on Kamakshi Amman Sannadhi Street, 622 metres north of the bus stand by a routed walk and about two hundred metres from the Kamakshi Amman temple — which is the street a great many pilgrims want to be on. OpenStreetMap carries a phone number (9092808882) and an Instagram page rather than a website, which is a fair description of the scale of the place. ⚠ We have found no independent page for it, no published tariff and no room count. Treat it as a walk-in-and-ask lodge by the temple rather than something to book ahead sight-unseen.
Book with the place itself. India’s cyber-crime coordination centre warned in April 2025 that convincing copies of hotel and pilgrimage booking sites are being pushed through sponsored search and social ads, taking payment for rooms the property never hears about. Every listing here links to the business’s own contact details and its own Google or Bing profile — we take no commission and sit in nobody’s payment path. If a booking page reached you through an ad, check the address bar against the property’s own site before you pay. Fraud can be reported on cybercrime.gov.in or on 1930.
Ulagalantha Perumal Temple sits in Kanchipuram, and these rank everything verified across the town rather than this one spot — built from the same listings shown above, ordered by the strength of the source evidence behind each entry rather than by anyone's star score. Every card shows how many places are really on it. Nobody pays to appear.
10 more places around Kanchipuram, each worth a day of its own.
The oldest temple in Kanchipuram, this early 8th-century Shiva temple was built by the Pallava king Narasimhavarman II (Rajasimha) around 700-728 CE. It is celebrated for its sandstone superstructure, granite foundations and finely carved Pallava-era sculptures, and is protected today by the Archaeological Survey of India.
A vast and ancient Shiva temple in Kanchipuram, Ekambareswarar is one of the Pancha Bhoota Sthalams, representing the earth (Prithvi) element. It is famous for its towering gopuram, one of the tallest in South India, and a revered old mango tree that tradition holds to be its sacred temple tree.
270 m · 3 min walk
One of Kanchipuram's most important temples, Kamakshi Amman is dedicated to the goddess Kamakshi, a form of Parvati, and is revered as a principal Shakti temple. It is closely linked with Adi Shankara and the Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham, and is traditionally counted among the great Shakti shrines of India.
A major Vishnu temple in Vishnu Kanchi (the Vaishnava quarter of Kanchipuram) and one of the 108 Divya Desams. The presiding deity, Varadharaja Perumal, is enshrined on the Hastagiri (elephant hill), and the temple complex is celebrated for its Vijayanagara-era art.
570 m · 7 min walk
An 8th-century Pallava Vishnu temple in Kanchipuram, also called Tiru Parameswara Vinnagaram, built by Nandivarman II Pallavamalla. It is prized by historians for its carved bas-relief panels and its unusual arrangement of three stacked sanctums.
650 m · 8 min walk
An Advaita Hindu monastery (matha) at Kanchipuram and the seat of the Shankaracharya of Kanchi. By its own tradition it was founded by Adi Shankara, though this claim and its early history are debated by scholars; today it is a well-known religious and heritage institution.
1.0 km · 12 min walk
Kanchipuram (Kanjivaram) silk sarees are a centuries-old handloom tradition woven in pure mulberry silk with real gold-and-silver zari, best known for the contrast korvai border and pallu woven separately and interlocked by hand, and for temple-inspired motifs. The craft carries a Geographical Indication (GI) tag registered in 2005-06, protecting sarees genuinely made in and around Kanchipuram town by its traditional weaver communities.
This Dravidian-style Vishnu temple at Sriperumbudur (Kancheepuram district) is revered as the birthplace of the 11th-12th century Vaishnava philosopher-saint Ramanuja (Ramanujacharya), exponent of Vishishtadvaita. Vishnu is worshipped here as Adikesava, and the temple - also called the Ramanujar temple - is an important Sri Vaishnava pilgrimage site, with a separate shrine devoted to Ramanuja.
Uthiramerur, a temple town about 35 km south of Kanchipuram, is world-famous for 10th-century Chola inscriptions that record the village assembly's 'kudavolai' (pot-ticket) election system - one of history's earliest documented examples of local self-government. The town's Pallava-origin Vishnu temples, expanded by the Cholas, carry these epigraphs; the celebrated sabha-election inscriptions of Parantaka Chola I are engraved on the enclosure walls of the Vaikunta Perumal temple here, alongside the well-known Sundaravarada Perumal (Vishnu) temple.
1.0 km · 12 min walk
A Divya Desam Vishnu temple in Kanchipuram (Tiru Padagam) enshrining a large seated image of Vishnu worshipped as Pandava Thoothar. Temple tradition commemorates Krishna's role as the emissary or messenger who went to the Kauravas on behalf of the Pandavas before the Kurukshetra war, and it is counted among Kanchipuram's oldest temples.
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Add a nearby businessEntry: Free entry for darshan; small charges may apply for special sevas or archanas (indicative)
In the heart of old Kanchipuram, a short auto ride from the bus stand or Kamakshi Amman Temple; Kanchipuram is about 70-75 km from Chennai by road or rail (indicative)
We have not assessed physical access at this place yet. Across India, step-free routes, handrails and accessible toilets are the exception rather than the rule, and pavements are often interrupted — if step-free access matters to you, contact the site or a local operator before committing to the trip.
Emergency numbers are verified against official government and state tourism sources. 112 works anywhere in India.
Visit in the cooler months and during morning hours for a calmer, less crowded darshan.
Entry: Free entry for darshan; small charges may apply for special sevas or archanas (indicative). Timings: Typically open mornings and evenings with a midday closure, as at most Kanchipuram temples (indicative).
Enter through the main gopuram and proceed to the central sanctum to view the towering Trivikrama form Walk the prakaram (circumambulatory corridor) to see the additional shrines counted as separate Divya Desams Ask a temple attendant or priest to point out the Tiru Ooragam and Mahabali legend associations before you leave
Around 30-45 minutes is enough for an unhurried visit.
Nearby you can pair Chitragupta Temple (210 m), Onakanthan Tali Temple (210 m), Kamakshi Amman Temple (270 m), Vazhukareeswarar Temple (350 m).
Stone floors can be hot underfoot at midday and slippery when washed, so tread carefully in bare feet.
Written about Ulagalantha Perumal Temple itself — its history, its legends and the arguments about them.
Ulagalantha Perumal Temple sits in Kanchipuram, so these cover the streets, buildings and surroundings around it.
Route-level itineraries and practical guides for the rest of Tamil Nadu.
Photographs: Pinakpani (CC BY 4.0). Wikimedia Commons.
