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Srivilliputhur Andal temple (also called Srivilliputtur Divya Desam) in Srivilliputhur, a town in Virudhunagar district in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, is dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu. It is located 74 km from Madurai. Constructed in the Dravidian style of architecture, the temple is glorified in the ''Divya Prabandha'', the early medieval Tamil canon of the Azhwar saints from the 6th–9th centuries AD. It is one of the 108 ''Divyadesam'' dedicated to Vishnu, who is worshipped as Vadapathrasayi and his consort Lakshmi as Andal. It is believed to be the birth place of two of the Azhwars, namely Periazhwar and his foster daughter Andal. The temple is associated with the life of Andal, who was found under a Tulsi plant in the garden inside the temple by Periazhwar. She is believed to have worn the garland before dedicating it to the presiding deity of the temple. Periazhwar, who later found it, was highly upset and stopped the practise. It is believed Vishnu appeared in his dream and asked him to dedicate the garland worn by Andal to him daily, which is a practise followed during the modern times. It is also believed that Ranganatha of Srirangam Ranganathaswamy temple married Andal, who later merged with him. The temple has two divisions - the one of Andal located on the Southwest and the second one of Vadapathrasayi on the Northeast direction. A granite wall surrounds the temple, enclosing all its shrines, the garden where Andal is believed to been born and two of its three bodies of water. The ''rajagopuram'', the temple's gateway tower, tall, is the official symbol of the Government of Tamil Nadu. The Vijayanagar and Nayak kings commissioned paintings on the walls of the shrine of temple, some of which are still present. Vadapathrasayi is believed to have appeared to Andal, Periazhwar and sages Markandeya and Bhrigu. The temple follows Thenkalai tradition of worship. Six daily rituals and three yearly festivals are held at the temple, of which the Aadipooram festival, the birthday of Andal, celebrated during the Tamil month of ''Adi'' (July - August), is the most prominent. The temple is maintained and administered by the Hindu Religious and Endowment Board of the Government of Tamil Nadu. ==Etymology== As per Hindu legend, the land around Srivilliputhur was under the rule of Queen Malli. The queen had two sons called Villi and Kandan. While the two were hunting in a forest, a tiger killed Kandan. Unaware of this, Villi searched for his brother, got tired and fell asleep. In his dream, divinity narrated to him what happened to his brother. By divine orders, Villi founded a city. The city is originally named after its founder, Villi forming the word Sri-Villi-Puthur.〔Urban Infrastructure Report 2008, pp. 8-9〕 Srivilliputtur is known by other names such as Varaha kshetram, Thenpuduvai, Vadeswarapuram, Vadamahadamapuram, Shenbagaranya kshetram, Vikrama chola chaturvedhi mangalam, and Sridhanvipuri.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Srivilliputhur Andal Temple」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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