Jakath Rakshaka Perumal Temple or Thirukoodalur (locally called Aduthurai Perumal Temple) in Vadakurangaduthurai, a village in the outskirts of Kumbakonam in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, is dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu.
Constructed in the Dravidian style of architecture, the temple is glorified in the Divya Prabandha, the early medieval Tamil canon of the Azhwar saints from the 6th - 9th centuries AD. It is one of the 108 Divyadesam dedicated to Vishnu, who is worshipped as Jakath Rakshaka and his consort Lakshmi as Padmasanavalli.
The temple is believed to have been built by the Medieval Cholas of the late 8th century AD, with later contributions from Vijayanagar kings and Madurai Nayaks. A brick wall surrounds the temple, enclosing all its shrines and bodies of water.Jakath Rakshaka is believed to have appeared to sage Nandaka and King Ambarisha.
Six daily rituals and three yearly festivals are held at the temple, of which the Brahmostvam, celebrated duringthe Tamil month of Vaikasi
(May - June), is the most prominent.
In this sthalam, all the devars along with Nandhagarishi was given the prathyaksham of Sriman Narayanan. Since all of them gathered (koodi) all together, this sthalam is called as "Thirukkoodaloor".
After coming to this sthalam only, the River Cauvery regained its speciality and holyness. Koodal + oor = Koodaloor. Koodal means joining (merging) together at the same place. Since, Cauvery is coming together in this Kshetram, this Kshetram is also called as "Sangama Kshetram".
Sangamam means joined together.Actually this divya desam is completely washed out by flood and the Lord Came in the dream of Rani Mangammal, who was the Queen of Madurai and told her that the temple was disappeared inside the earth.
On hearing this, Rani Mangammal ordered to take out the temple out of the earth and on her commandents only this temple was rebuild and taken care.The Utsavar in this temple is "Jegatharatshakan". As the name implies, he keeps the Baton in his hand.
