At Srivilliputhur in southern Tamil Nadu stands the great temple of Andal and Vatapatrasayi (Vishnu), one of the 108 Divya Desams and the birthplace of one of the most beloved figures in all of Vaishnavism — Andal, the only woman among the twelve Alvar saints. Here the child Andal, found in a tulsi garden and raised in devotion, so loved Lord Ranganatha of Srirangam that tradition holds she merged with him as his bride, and her Tamil hymns, the Tiruppavai and Nachiar Tirumozhi, are sung across the land each Margazhi.
The temple's soaring gopuram, rising some sixty metres, is the tallest in the region and is honoured as the emblem on the seal of the Tamil Nadu government. Srivilliputhur is a supreme seat of Andal's devotion and one of the great Vaishnava shrines of the South.
