Srivilliputhur
Andal Temple – History
The history of Srivilliputhur centres around the Srivilliputhur Andal Temple, dedicated to Andal. It
is argued that the temple of Vatapatrasayi is present from the 8th century,
but there are epigraphic records are available only from the 10th century.
The view that the Andal Temple was built during the 14th century is highly
debated. The temple has inscriptions from Chola, Pandya and Nayak rulers,
spanning across various centuries from the 10th to 16th centuries.
As per some accounts, the original structure was constructed by Tribuvana
Chakravarthy Konerinmai Kondan Kulasekaran and the Andal temple by Barathi
Rayar.
During the reign of Thirumalai
Nayak (1623 A.D – 1659 A.D.) and Rani
Mangammal (1689 A.D – 1706 A.D), this city became very popular.
Thirumalai Nayak renovated all the temples of this city. He installed Choultries,
temple tanks, paintings and golden towers inside the temple. The sculptures in
the hall leading to the shrine of Andal were also built by him. From 1751
A.D. to 1756 A.D., Srivilliputhur came under the rule of Nerkattam
Seval Paalayakkarar Puli Thevar. Later the Fort of
Srivilliputhur was ruled by Periyasami Thevar. Then it fell into the hands
of Mohammed Yusuf Khan.
Until 1850, Sri Andal temple was under the care of the
king of Travancore. The Temple came under the control of British till India attained freedom
in 1947. The temple's gateway tower, 192 ft (59 m) tall and it is the
official symbol of the Government of Tamil Nadu (Vatapatrasayi Temple Tower). But the artist who designed the emblem for the
state of Tamil Nadu Thiru. Krishna Rao denied that it is not the temple of Srivilliputhur
rather it is Meenakshi Temple's West Gopuram.
The two temples contain over 60 inscriptions
in Vattezhuthu, in the Gopuram, Dwajastambam, and walls of the central
shrines and Mandapams. In the inscriptions, Srivilliputhur
is referred to as Malli Vala Naadu and Andal is referred to as Soodi
Kodutha Nachiyar. During the modern times, the temple is maintained and administered by the Hindu Religious and
Endowment Board of the Government of Tamil Nadu. Samprokshanam of
the Andal temple was performed on 20 January 2016 by Tamil Nadu
Government.
