Sri Koodal Azhagar Perumal Temple

Historians consider this among the oldest continuously worshipped temples in the region: it finds mention in early Sangam-era Tamil literature, including Madurai Kanchi, Paripatal, Kalithokai and Silappatikaram, placing its origins well before most of the Nava Tirupathi and other later Divya Desams that rely on Alvar hymns alone for their earliest attestation. Periyalvar's hymn Tirupallandu, traditionally recited first and last in almost every Sri Vaishnava temple ritual across South India, is associated with this temple by tradition, giving Koodal Azhagar an unusually direct link to the daily liturgical life of temples far beyond Madurai itself.

The temple's most distinctive feature (the deity shown in all three classical postures (standing, seated and reclining) stacked across three tiers of the same sanctum) is essentially unique among the 108 Divya Desams, most of which show Perumal in only one fixed posture. Pilgrims often read the three tiers as representing Vishnu's presence across past, present and future, or across the three states of waking, dream and deep sleep, though temple tradition does not fix a single official interpretation.

Temple tradition holds that when Periyalvar was carried in procession from Madurai toward Srivilliputhur (the same journey later commemorated at Thiruthangal, where Ranganatha is said to have paused overnight) he received a divine vision of Vishnu here at Koodal Azhagar and began reciting verses that became part of his Periya Tirumozhi, linking this temple directly into the same devotional itinerary as its Divya Desam neighbours to the south.

The temple's most notable architectural feature is its three-tiered sanctum, showing Koodal Azhagar seated at ground level as the principal worshipped form (moolavar), with standing and reclining forms of the deity in the tiers above, a vertical arrangement of all three classical Vishnu postures not replicated at any other Divya Desam. The temple stands centrally within Madurai, a city whose urban fabric has grown up closely around its ancient temples.

The temple's festival calendar intersects with Madurai's citywide Chithirai festival season (April–May), among the most widely attended temple festivals anywhere in Tamil Nadu, alongside its own Perumal-specific observances tied to the Periyalvar and Tirupallandu tradition.

Daily worship follows the customary schedule of major Pandya Nadu Divya Desams, with the three-tiered sanctum meaning darshan here typically involves viewing all three postures of the deity in sequence rather than a single sanctum visit.