Vaishnava Nambi and Thirukurungudivalli Nachiar Temple in Thirukkurungudi, a village in Tirunelveli district in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, is dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu. It is located 45 km from Tirunelveli. Constructed in the Dravidian style of architecture, the temple is glorified in the Naalayira Divya Prabandham, the early medieval Tamil canon of the Alvar saints from the 6th–9th centuries CE. It is one of the 108 Divya Desams dedicated to Vishnu, who is worshipped as Vaishnava Nambi and his consort Lakshmi as Thirukurungudivalli. The temple is locally referred as Dakshina Vaikuntam, the holy abode of Vishnu.
A granite wall surrounds the temple, enclosing all its shrines and two of its three bodies of water. The rajagopuram, the temple's gateway tower, is tall. Vaishnava Nambi is believed to have appeared to slay the asura Somuka who abducted the four Vedas. The temple follows Tenkalai tradition of worship. Six daily rituals and three yearly festivals are held at the temple, of which the ten-day annual Brahmotsavam during the Tamil month of Chittirai (April - May) and Brahmotsavam during the month of Chittirai, being the most prominent. The temple is maintained and administered by the Hindu Religious and Endowment Board of the Government of Tamil Nadu.
Legend
As per accounts in the Varaha Purana, a treatise of Varaha, an avatar of Vishnu, Varaha preferred to stay at this place with his consort Varahi in a small form and hence came to be known as Thirkurungudi (literally meaning a small house).
As per a Hindu legend, Nambaduvan, a peasant and singer (locally called panan) from lower section of the society, was an ardent devotee of Vishnu. On account of his low life, he never entered the temple and worshipped from outside. While walking towards the temple one day, he was stopped by a asura. He sang the verses which he set for the presiding deity to him. He also assured the asura that he will come back from the temple when the asura can consume him. Nambi, the presiding deity was pleased by his devotion and appeared outside the temple. While returning, Nambi appeared as a Brahmin and tried to convince him to escape the asura. But Nambudavan was staunch and wanted to be true to his promise. The asura was pleased by the songs and said it did not want to consume him anymore. It is believed that the asura was a Brahmin who was cursed during his previous birth as he was not sincere doing his penance. He was relieved off his curse listening to the songs of Nambaduvan.
Architecture
Vaishnava Nambi temple is located in Thirukkurungudi, a village in Tirunelveli district in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located from Tirunelveli and from Nanguneri. The temple has a flat entrance tower and a five-tiered gopuram (gateway tower). The temple has five prakarams, closed precincts of a temple and all the shrines are enclosed in the first two enclosures. The temple occupies around . There are a number of halls, that have sculpted pillars from the Nayak period. There is a festival hall in the second precinct in the temple facing South that has sculpted pillars indicating various Hindu legends. The most notable of them being a legend of Mahabharata where Bhima attacks a lion legged person with his club. The composite columns of Virabhadra holding sword and horn are found be additions of the Vijayanayagara kings during the early 1500s. Similar columns of Virabhadra are found in Adikesava Perumal Temple at Thiruvattaru, Meenakshi Temple at Madurai, Nellaiappar Temple at Tirunelveli, Kasi Viswanathar temple at Tenkasi, Krishnapuram Venkatachalapathy temple, Ramanathaswamy Temple at Rameswaram, Soundararajaperumal temple at Thadikombu, Srivilliputhur Andal temple, Srivaikuntanathan Permual temple at Srivaikuntam and Avudayarkovil.
In Tamil language the word Nambi means personification of all virtuous and righteous qualities blended with beauty and grace. There are five Nambis in this Kshetram. They are Ninra Nambi (Standing posture), Irundha Nambi (Sitting posture), Kidandha Nambi (Sleeping posture), Thiruparkadal Nambi and Thirumalai Nambi. Thiruparkadal Nambi Temple is located near to the River Nambiyaru, one km from the main temple. Thirumalai Nambi Temple is on the hills (Mahendragiri Mountain) 8 km from the main temple.