Lakshmi Narasimha / Vayalali Manavalan Temple, Thiruvali-Thirunagari

Sthala Purāṇam

Thiruvaali-Thirunagari is a pair of linked Divya Desam shrines near Sirkazhi and is celebrated above all as the birthplace of Thirumangai Alvar. At Thiruvali the presiding deity is Lakshmi Narasimha (Alagiyasingar) with his consort Amirthagatavalli, while at Thirunagari, a few kilometres away, the Lord is Vedarajan, also revered as Vayalali Manavalan, with his consort Amirthavalli. The name Thirunagari is traced to Aalingapuri: here Lord Narayana found the Goddess seated in a lotus on the sacred pushkarini and embraced (alingana) her, and the place came to be called Aalingapuri and later Thirunagari. The Alvar himself was born Kaliyan (Neelan), a Chola military chieftain who, for his valour, bore the title Parakala and ruled Ali Nadu with Thirumangai as his capital. He fell in love with the devout Vaishnavi Kumudavalli, who agreed to marry him only if he became a Vishnu devotee and fed Vaishnavas every day. Unable to sustain this, he turned to highway robbery, until one day he tried to rob a divine bridal couple; finding he could not remove their jewels, he realized the bridegroom was Vishnu himself, who whispered the Ashtakshara mantra (Om Namo Narayanaya) into his ear, irrevocably transforming the robber-king into the great Alvar Thirumangai. Both shrines, where Vedarajan and Alagiyasingar are said to have granted him darshan, are richly sung by him. The vimana over the Vedarajan sanctum at Thirunagari is in the eight-part Ashtanga style, adorned with stucco figures of sages and the Dasavatara.

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