Vaikunta Perumal Temple, Thiru Parameswara Vinnagaram
Paramechura Vinnagaram
Photo: Sridhar.selvaraj · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikimedia Commons
A rare three-tiered Vishnu sanctum and a Pallava-era monument recording the history of the dynasty.
Sthala Purāṇam
The deity at Thiru Parameswara Vinnagaram is Vaikunta Nathan (Paramapada Nathan), with consort Vaikunthavalli Thaayar. The temple is among the most historically significant Pallava monuments of Kanchipuram, built in the 8th century by the Pallava king Nandivarman II Pallavamalla (datings range from the late 7th to later 8th century CE). It was originally called Paramechura Vinnagaram in Tamil and Vishnugriha ('Vishnu-house') in Sanskrit, signifying a royal house for Parameshvara, here an epithet of Vishnu, not Shiva. Its defining feature is a three-tiered sanctum with three vertically aligned shrines presenting Vishnu in three postures: seated on the ground floor, reclining on the first floor (opened to devotees on Ekadashi), and standing on the second floor, offering a rare three-form darshan within one vimana. The cloister walls carry a famous sequence of bas-relief panels depicting Pallava dynastic history, tracing the lineage of the kings, with battle scenes, coronations, and notably the search for and finding of a successor after Paramesvaravarman II's early death, the boy who became Nandivarman II and built this temple. The local sthala puranam recounts that sage Bharadvaja performed penance and married a celestial nymph, and that Vishnu, in the guise of a hunter, gave the resulting child to an heirless Pallava king, a legendary parallel to the historical succession of Nandivarman II. The shrine is glorified in the Nalayira Divya Prabandham by Thirumangai Alvar (ten pasurams), confirming its place among the 108 Divya Desams.
Mangalāśāsanam — the Āḻvār pāsurams
The Lord Vaikunta Nathan (Paramapada Nathan) with Vaikunthavalli Thayar of Paramechura Vinnagaram is glorified in 10 pāsurams by:
Paramechura (Parameswara) Vinnagaram, the Vaikunta Perumal temple of Kanchipuram, was built by the Pallava king Nandivarman II Pallavamalla (Parameswaravarman) in the 8th century, after whom it is named. It is one of the fourteen Kanchipuram Divya Desams and the only one explicitly tied to a Pallava royal foundation in the Prabandham. Thirumangai Alvar alone sang its Mangalasasanam — a full decade of ten pasurams in his Periya Thirumozhi (2.9) — praising Vaikuntanathan/Paramapadanathan, the Lord who graces devotees simultaneously in sitting, reclining and standing postures across the temple's three tiers.
குடைத்திறல் மன்னவனாய் ஒருகால் குரங்கைப் படையா மலையால் கடலை அடைத்தவன் எந்தை பிரானது இடம் அணி மாடங்கள் சூழ்ந்து அழகாய கச்சி விடைத்திறல் வில்லவன் நென்மெலியில் வெருவச் செருவேல் வலங்கைப் பிடித்த படைத்திறல் பல்லவர் கோன் பணிந்த பரமேச்சுர விண்ணகரம் அதுவே
kudaith thiRal mannavanAy orukAl kurangaip padaiyA malaiyAl kadalai adaiththavan endhai pirAnadhu idam aNi mAdangaL sUzhndhu azhagAya kachchi vidaiththiRal villavan nenmeliyil veruvach cheruvEl valangaip pidiththa padaiththiRal pallavar kOn paNindha paramEchchura viNNagaram adhuvE
The abode of my Lord — He who once, as a mighty king holding the royal parasol (Sri Rama), raised an army of monkeys and dammed the ocean with mountains — is Parameswara Vinnagaram in beautiful Kanchi, girt with lovely mansions: the place worshipped by the king of the Pallavas, a warrior of great strength who, grasping a battle-spear in his right hand, made the powerful bow-wielding (Pandya/Chera) foe tremble at Nenmeli.
Tamil text & meaning sourced from divyaprabandham.koyil.org and other Śrī Vaiṣṇava authorities — please cross-check the linked source for the canonical reading.
Read the pāsurams ↗Gallery
.jpg)
Tap an image to view it larger — use ‹ › to browse, ✕ to close. Images via Wikimedia Commons.
Plan your visit
📍 12.83694, 79.71000
Routes, distances, hotels and restaurants open in Google Maps with live data. Build a phased pilgrimage plan →