Koodal Azhagar Temple

Koodal Azhagar Temple is Madurai's principal Vishnu temple and a Divya Desam. This guide covers its architecture, festivals and what we could not verify.

Koodal Azhagar Temple is a Vishnu temple in Madurai, dedicated to Viyooga Sundarrajan with his consort Lakshmi as Mathuravalli. It is one of the 108 Divya Desams, the Vaishnava shrines praised in the Nalayira Divya Prabandham. The Pandyas first built it, and the Vijayanagara rulers and Madurai Nayaks added to it in the 16th century. The five-tier gopuram stands about 125 ft (38 m).

The sanctum is unusual in showing Vishnu in three postures, seated, standing and reclining, on separate levels of the vimana, which has eight parts. The temple follows the Tenkalai tradition and holds six daily rituals; Wikipedia lists services at 8:00, 12:00, 17:00 and 18:00 as part of this schedule. The main festival is the 14-day Brahmotsavam in Vaikasi (May–June). A kumbhabhishekam took place on 20 January 2024.

We found no official page with visiting hours or fees, so both are recorded as unknown; temples in Tamil Nadu usually close in the afternoon, so check locally.