Divya Darshan 360
Azhagiya Manavala Perumal Temple
Photo: Ssriram mt, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Famous temples · Tamil Nadu

Azhagiya Manavala Perumal Temple

One of the 108 Divya Desams, in Uraiyur, a suburb of Tiruchirappalli

Checked 19 Oct 2026 with 4 sources2 min read

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Getting there

  • By air

    Tiruchirappalli International Airport serves the city and is 5 km from the city centre.

  • By train

    Tiruchirappalli Junction, one of the busiest railway stations in India, serves the city where the temple lies.

  • By road

    Tiruchirappalli, the city the temple lies in, sits where National Highways 45 and 67 meet.

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Why devotees come here

Azhagiya Manavala Perumal Temple stands in Uraiyur, a suburb of Tiruchirappalli in Tamil Nadu. It is one of the 108 Divya Desams, and its Kamalavalli Nachiyar shrine faces north, a feature no other Divya Desam has.

Azhagiya Manavala Perumal is one of the 108 Divya Desams, Vishnu temples praised in the Nalayira Divya Prabandham, a Vaishnava hymn collection from the 7th to 9th centuries. Kulasekara Alvar and Thirumangai Alvar both sang hymns in its honour. Legend says Vishnu appeared here as Azhagiya Manavalan, a beautiful groom, and the temple takes its name from that form. Another legend tells of a fowl that defeated an elephant in a fight on this spot, which is said to have given the place the name Kozhiyur.

Nanda Chozhan is said to have been blessed with a daughter, an incarnation of Lakshmi, who was named Kamalavalli. Medieval Cholas are believed to have built the temple in the late 8th century, with later work by the Pandyas, the Vijayanagar kings and the Madurai Nayaks. The five-tiered rajagopuram, the gateway tower, marks the entrance. Kamalavalli Nachiyar's shrine faces north, a feature found in no other Divya Desam.

Nanda Chozhan is also said to have built the temple to celebrate the home-coming of Ranganatha. The annual Serthi Sevai festival is also a home-coming festival, held in the temple every year. The temple's paintings date from the early 1800s and show Vishnu's Matsya and Narasimha avatars.

Festivals

  • Chittirai month, March to AprilChariot festival

    The most prominent of the temple's three yearly festivals.

  • Ayilyam star in Panguni monthSerthi Sevai

    The annual home-coming festival, celebrated in the temple every year.

Tips for your visit

  • The airport's IATA code is TRZ, the code to use when you search for flights to Tiruchirappalli.
  • Serthi Sevai is held on the Ayilyam star in Panguni, so plan your visit around that date if you want to see it.

Darshan at home

Not in the app yet

Azhagiya Manavala Perumal Temple is not in the Divya Darshan 360 app yet. These Famous temples temples are, with darshan videos you can watch at home:

In the appChamundeshwari Temple, MysuruChamundi Hill, Mysuru, KarnatakaIn the appDakshineswar Kali Temple, KolkataDakshineswar, North 24 Parganas, near Kolkata, West BengalIn the appShirdi Sai Baba Temple, MaharashtraShirdi, Rahata taluka, Ahilyanagar district, Maharashtra
Get the appAndroid

The app is free, Android only. For darshan as if you are standing there, see the VR box (₹899, or ₹949 cash on delivery).

Questions people ask

Which form of Vishnu is worshipped here?

The central shrine has Vishnu as Azhagiya Perumal, seated. The name Azhagiya Manavalan means a beautiful groom, and legend says Vishnu took that form here, which is why the temple carries that name.

Which hymns praise this temple?

The Nalayira Divya Prabandham, a 7th to 9th century Vaishnava collection, includes hymns on this temple. Kulasekara Alvar sang eleven and Thirumangai Alvar sang thirteen.

Who looks after the temple?

The Hindu Religious and Endowment Board of the Government of Tamil Nadu maintains and administers it.

How we checked this page

On 19 Oct 2026 we checked every fact on this page against these sources, official ones first. Anything we could not confirm is left out.

  1. Azhagiya Manavala Perumal Temple, Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org
  2. Re-enacting the celestial wedding, The Hindu thehindu.com
  3. Uraiyur, Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org
  4. Tiruchirappalli, Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org

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