Early medieval · Hindu · India

Alwarthirunagari Perumal Temple (Adinathar)

Alwarthirunagari, Tamil Nadu · 8.6071°, 77.9383°

Adinatha PerumalUndeterminedDravidianDivya Desam

Sacred since

600 CE

first attestation / structure

Standing structure

attested in Alvar hymns (7th-9th c.)

Undetermined

History & significance

The foremost of the nine Nava Tirupati temples on the Tamiraparani and a Divya Desam, celebrated as the birthplace of Nammalvar, the greatest of the twelve Alvar saints, whose tamarind tree still stands in the temple.

Sthala katha — the legend

The infant Nammalvar is said to have sat silent in meditation in a hollow of the temple tamarind for sixteen years, until the poet Madhurakavi's riddle drew out his voice.

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