Tiruvelukkai located in Kanchipuram 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 Azhagiya Singar and his consort Lakshmi as Amruthavalli.The temple is believed to have been built by the Pallavas of the late 8th century AD, with later contributions from Medieval Cholas and Vijayanagar kings.
Azhagiya Singar is believed to have appeared to slay Hiranya, the demon king. Six daily rituals and three yearly festivals are held at the temple, of which the Krishna Janmasthami festival, celebrated during the Tamil month of Aavani (August-September), being the most prominent.
The temple rituals are performed six times a day: Ushathkalam at 7 a.m., Kalasanthi at 8:00 a.m., Uchikalam at 12:00 p.m., Sayarakshai at 6:00 p.m., Irandamkalam at 7:00 p.m. andArdha Jamam at 10:00 p.m.
After Narasimha avatharam, Lord Vishnu appeared as Narasimha again to safeguard the people who were being troubled by asuras.
The Lord chased
the asuras away and decided to stay here out of his own desire to
continue protecting people from evil forces. Hence the place got its
name as Velukkai- where Vel means Wish and irukkai means stay.
