Sri Vamanakshetrapoornaya Perumal Temple

The temple is glorified by four Alvars (Thirumazhisai Alvar, Nammalvar, Periyalvar and Thirumangai Alvar) an unusually high count among the Pandya Nadu Divya Desams that reflects how prominent Thirukkurungudi already was by the time the Naalayira Divya Prabandham took shape. Locally, the presiding deity is worshipped as Vaishnava Nambi (or Azhagiya Nambi), with his consort as Thirukurungudivalli Nachiar, names that appear more often in everyday use around the temple than the formal Sanskrit name Vamanakshetrapoornaya Perumal used in temple records.

What sets Thirukkurungudi apart from almost every other Divya Desam is that it does not have one presiding form but five, known collectively as the Five Nambis: Ninra Nambi in a standing posture, Irundha Nambi seated, Kidandha Nambi reclining, along with Thiruparkadal Nambi and Thirumalai Nambi enshrined in separate shrines within the same sprawling complex. A single pilgrim can therefore take darshan of Vishnu in three of his four classical postures (standing, seated and reclining) without leaving the temple's outer walls, a completeness that local tradition credits directly to the site's connection with the Vamana avatar.

Temple tradition holds that Vishnu assumed his Vamana (dwarf) avatar here together with his consort Bhumi, both taking a diminutive stature before Vamana grew to cosmic size to reclaim the three worlds from King Mahabali, the name Vamanakshetra ("Vamana's field") refers directly to this legend, and distinguishes Thirukkurungudi from the handful of other Divya Desams associated with the same avatar.

The temple is also the traditional home of the Kaisika Puranam, the story behind the Kaisika Ekadasi festival: a Brahmin devotee named Nambaduvan, born into a community that also sang and danced, is said to have journeyed here on Ekadasi night to perform for Vaishnava Nambi despite being waylaid by a Rakshasa in the forest along the way. The devotee's steadfastness under threat, and the Rakshasa's eventual redemption through witnessing his devotion, is still recounted and dramatized at the temple every year, and Thirukkurungudi is widely regarded as the place where the practice of worshipping Vishnu through Kaisika Nataka (devotional dance-drama) originated.

Built in the Dravidian style and spread across roughly 7.5 hectares, the temple is organised into five concentric prakarams (enclosures), with all the principal shrines (including those of the Five Nambis) contained within the innermost two. Its rajagopuram, the towered gateway facing the temple's main approach, rises to about 110 feet, making it one of the taller gopurams among the Tirunelveli-region Divya Desams. A festival hall in the second prakaram, built during the Nayak period, is noted for pillars carved with scenes from Vaishnava legend, reflecting the sustained royal patronage the temple received over centuries as it grew from a single shrine into today's multi-deity complex.

Kaisika Ekadasi, observed in the Tamil month of Margazhi (December–January), is the temple's most distinctive festival: devotees keep the Kaisika Vratha (a strict fast and vigil) through the night, and the Kaisika Puranam story is recited and re-enacted, with local tradition holding that witnessing the observance carries the promise of moksha. Alongside this, the ten-day Vaikasi Brahmotsavam in the Tamil month of Vaikasi (May–June) is the temple's principal annual festival, when the deities of the different Nambi shrines are taken in procession through Thirukkurungudi's streets with considerable ceremony.

Because the complex houses five separate presiding forms across two prakarams, a proper darshan here takes longer than at a single-shrine Divya Desam. Pilgrims commonly plan their visit around seeing each of the Five Nambis in turn rather than a single sanctum.