Sri Yathottakari Perumal Temple

Temple tradition holds that the goddess Saraswati, angered with Brahma over a ritual dispute during his yajna, attempted to disrupt the sacrifice by taking the form of the river Vegavati in furious flood, bearing down on the sacrificial ground. Vishnu is said to have lain directly across her path to block the torrent, stilling the river with his own reclining body, the place-name Vekka is traditionally derived from Vegavati through the intermediate forms Vegavani and Vegannai, preserving the flood in the temple's very name.

What distinguishes the image here from most other reclining (sayana) Vishnu shrines is the direction of repose: Yathotkari reclines with his head to the south and feet to the north, resting on his left side rather than the right-side recline more commonly seen at other Sayana Divya Desams, a detail Sri Vaishnava tradition treats as devotionally significant rather than incidental, and one many pilgrims specifically come to observe.

Thiruvekka is mentioned in early Sangam-era Tamil literature, giving it a documented literary presence considerably older than many inscriptional records for other Kanchipuram shrines, and it is counted among the three oldest Vishnu temples in Kanchipuram alongside the Ulagalantha Perumal and Pandava Thoothar (Pandavadootha) temples. Later, during the medieval Chola period, the temple received continued royal patronage, with three separate inscriptions recording endowments to the shrine, evidence of sustained worship here across several centuries, alongside Kanchipuram's other prominent Vishnu temples.

The temple's most celebrated historical claim, however, is devotional rather than architectural: Poigai Alvar, traditionally counted as the earliest of the twelve Alvar saints, is believed to have been born here in a golden lotus within the small pond that lies just outside the temple's main entrance, parallel to the shrine. This birth legend gives Thiruvekka a place in the Sri Vaishnava tradition well beyond its own dimensions, tying the origin of the entire Alvar poetic tradition to this one tank.

The temple takes its vimanam name, Vedasara Vimanam, from the tower above the reclining sanctum, and its tank is known as Poigai Pushkarini, the same lotus tank associated with Poigai Alvar's birth. As with several of Kanchipuram's older Vishnu shrines, the temple's structure reflects the layered building history typical of the town, an early core with later Chola-period additions and endowments recorded through inscriptions rather than a single, dated construction.

Panguni Brahmotsavam, celebrated in the Tamil month of Panguni (March–April), is the temple's principal annual festival, marked by extended processions of the utsava murti during which pasurams are recited to invoke divine grace. The birthday of Poigai Alvar, observed under the star Thiruvonam in the Tamil month of Aipasi (October–November), is the temple's other major festival and draws devotees specifically honouring the saint believed to have been born at this site.

Like the other Vishnu Divya Desams inside Kanchipuram, Thiruvekka also observes Vaikunta Ekadashi and shares in the town's broader Vaishnavite festival calendar.

Darshan of the reclining Yathotkari image follows the temple's daily ritual schedule typical of Kanchipuram's Divya Desam shrines, with the unusual left-side reclining posture often drawn to visitors' attention by temple priests as a point of particular devotional interest. Many pilgrims also pause at the Poigai Pushkarini tank just outside the entrance, associated with Poigai Alvar's birth, before or after their darshan of the main sanctum.