Thiruvazhmarban Perumal Temple (Sri Kuralappa Perumal Temple) stands in Thiruppathisaram, Tamil Nadu, is a shrine to Thiruvazhmarban Perumal, also called Kuralappa Perumal (Vishnu), with consort Kamalavalli Nachiyar. It is also known as Thiruvanparisaram temple, Thiruvazhmarban Temple.
The temple is one of the 108 Divya Desams, the Vishnu temples glorified in the Naalayira Divya Prabandham composed by the Alvar poet-saints. It is closely associated with Kulasekara Alvar, one of the twelve Alvars, and some local accounts also connect the nearby village to the birth of the Alvar saint Nammalvar's mother, though this is debated. The temple is glorified in the Naalayira Divya Prabandham composed in the early medieval period by the Tamil Alvar poet-saints.
Tamil Nadu carries a distinct temple identity of its own: Land of towering gopurams and living Dravidian temple traditions, from the Chola masterpieces to the great Pancha Bhoota Sthalas.
Darshan hours and daily worship
| Session | Timing (as published) |
|---|---|
| Morning | 4:30 AM to 12:30 PM |
| Evening | 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM |
Sources give at least four different opening and closing time variants: 4:30 AM to 12:30 PM and 5 PM to 8 PM (the most commonly repeated), 6 AM to 12 PM and 4:30 PM to 8 PM (keraladivyadesam.com), 5:30 AM to 10:30 AM and 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM (a dedicated temple-visit blog), and 7:30 AM to 12:30 PM and 5:00 PM to 8:30 PM (the temple's Google Maps Business listing); confirm locally before visiting.
Festivals and special-day timings
Regular darshan hours are usually extended, or set aside entirely, on these dates.
| Festival | Period | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Chittirai Brahmotsavam | April or May | Ten day festival with chariot processions |
| Aadi Swati | July or August | Festival dedicated to Kulasekara Alvar |
| Vaikunta Ekadasi | December or January | Major festival day observed with special processions |
History and architecture
Architecture
Dravidian style temple on a roughly 2 acre site, with a five tiered gopuram, granite enclosure walls, a Kalyana Vimana Mandapa with Dashavatara paintings, and a sanctum housing the moolavar in seated form made of a lime and granite compound, alongside a separate panchaloha festival image
History
The temple is glorified in the Naalayira Divya Prabandham composed in the early medieval period by the Tamil Alvar poet-saints. Sources differ on the exact founding legend: one account holds that Kulasekara, later the Alvar poet-saint Kulasekara Alvar, came upon the site while searching for a lost horse, bathed in the temple's Soma Tirtham tank and is said to have built the temple there, later carrying out renovation work and donating the Dwajasthambam, compound wall and festival vahanas. A separate account instead names a Pandya king, given as Devasarman in one source, as the temple's founder, with Kulasekara Alvar credited there only with regular worship rather than construction. Kulasekara Alvar is also honoured with a dedicated festival day at the temple. The oldest inscription found at the site, from 1139 CE, records a gift by one Natesan Chetti, and a later renovation of the temple tank is attributed in some accounts to the Nayak-era ruler Thirumalai Nayak.
Planning your visit
How to reach
About 5 km northeast of Nagercoil Junction, just off the Nagercoil to Tirunelveli highway; reachable by local bus or auto rickshaw from Nagercoil
Where this information comes from
Confidence: Low. Sources still give conflicting accounts of the temple's founding legend; one strand (Wikipedia, a temple-visit blog) holds that Kulasekara Alvar built or substantially renovated the temple after a horse-related episode at the Soma Tirtham tank, while another (keraladivyadesam.com) attributes founding to a Pandya king, named there as Devasarman, with Kulasekara Alvar credited only with worship. Reported darshan timings now show four distinct variants across sources, including the temple's own Google Maps Business listing. Neither the legend nor the timings could be resolved to one authoritative account, so both are documented rather than picked, and confidence stays low