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As per mythological legend, this place was known to be a Varaha Kshetra. It was a dense forest named Champaka where the sages Bhrigu and Markandeya were doing penance and had their hermitages. 

A demon named Kalanerai was troubling the sages and they prayed to Lord Vishnu to relieve them from the demon. Lord Vishnu was pleased with their devotion and appeared to slay the demon. 

The Lord is believed to have taken abode in the forest reclining on Adisesha, His serpent bed, on the leaf of a banyan tree. The place thus came to be known as Vadaveshwarapuram.

So, the Lord is known as Vata (Banyan) Patra (Leaf) Sai!

Periazhwar (originally called Vishnuchittar) was an ardent devotee of  Lord Vishnu and he used to string garlands for Lord Vishnu every day. He was childless and he prayed to Lord Vishnu to bless him with a child.

One day, he found a girl child under a tulsi plant in a garden inside the temple. He and his wife named the child Kothai, who grew up to be a devotee of Lord Krishna.

She is believed to have worn the garland before dedicating it to the presiding deity of the temple. Periazhwar, who later found it, was highly upset and rebuked her.

Lord Vishnu appeared in his dream and asked him to dedicate only the garland worn by Kothai to him. The girl Kothai was thus named Aandaal and was referred as Chudikodutha Sudarkodi (The girl who offered the garland worn by her to the Lord)! 

The practice is still followed during modern times when the garland of Aandaal is sent to Azhagar Kovil on Garudostavam during the Tamil month of Puratasi (September - October) and Tirumala Venkateswara Temple during Chitra Pournami.[

It is also believed that Ranganathar of Srirangam Ranganathaswamy temple married Aandaal, who later merged with the Lord. 

Aandaal was taken in a palanquin from Srivilliputhur to Srirangam before the marriage. Since Aandaal married Lord Ranganatha, who came as a king (called Raja), the presiding deity is called Rangamannar.

The land around Srivilliputhur was under the rule of Queen Malli. The queen had two sons called Villi and Kandan. While the two were hunting in a forest, a tiger killed Kandan. Unaware of this, Villi searched for his brother, got tired, and fell asleep. 

In his dream, the Lord narrated to him what had happened to his brother. By divine orders, Villi founded a city. The city is named after its founder, Villi forming the word Sri-Villi-Puthur.

 It is believed that the temple of Vatapathrasai has been present since the 8th century, but there are epigraphic records available only from the 10th century. 

The temple has inscriptions from Chola, Pandya and Nayak rulers, spanning across various centuries from the 10th to 16th centuries. 

During the reign of Thirumalai Nayak (1623–1659) and Rani Mangammal (1689–1706), this city became very popular. Thirumalai Nayak renovated all the temples of this city. He installed choultries, temple tanks, paintings and golden towers inside the temple. The sculptures in the hall leading to the shrine of Aandaal were also built by him.

Sage Bhrigu stands near His head and sage Markandeya is near His feet. The banyan tree whose leaf is known as Vatapatram, on which Lord Vishnu is said to rest in the form of a baby during deluge, is at His head, behind Bhrigu. Vigrahams of Naradar, Sanatkumara, Tumburu, Kinnara Mithuna, the Sun and the Moon are all around  the Lord.

The sanctum has three doorways from which the presiding deity can be seen. The hall leading to the sanctum, Bhopala villam, has a hall with detailed teak wood carvings depicting incidents from the Puranas and the ten avatars of Vishnu, the Dashavatara. There are a set of carvings that decorate the ceiling. 

Varaha puranam foretells the existence of Srivilliputhur and the consequent visit of Lord Vishnu during the Varaha Avataram. Brahmakaivatsa puranam mentions the location of Vatapatrasai Temple in Srivilliputhur.

The Srivilliputhur divya desam has the unique distinction of being the birthplace of two important azhwars among the twelve azhwars, Sri Periyazhwar, who became the father-in-law of Lord Ranganatha Himself and Goddess Aandaal who was the incarnation of Bhooma devi and attained union with the Lord Ranganathan at Srirangam.

Kothai is credited with the Tamil works of Thirupavai and Nachiar Tirumozhi that are still recited by devotees during the Winter festival season of Margazhi.

The temple Address : Srivilliputhur Aandaal Temple , Srivilliputhur- 626125, Tamil Nadu Srivilliputhur is about 70 km from Madurai.

The temple's gateway tower (Gopuram) is 192 ft tall. The tower is originally believed to have been built by Periazhwar with the prize money he obtained from religious debates in the court of Vallaba Pandya in Madurai.

The huge temple has four sections; Goddess Aandaal temple, the garden where Kothai was found by Periazhwar, Lord Chakrathazhwar sannidhi and the temple of Lord Vatapatrasai.

The Aandaal shrine houses the vigrahams of Goddess Aandaal and  Lord Rangamannar. Lord Garudazhwar, who brought Lord Ranganathar, the divine bridegroom, from Srirangam is also housed in the same shrine. 

The walls around the shrine has paintings of the life of Aandaal. The second hall from the entrance towards the sanctum, the Kalyana Mandapam, houses huge life-size sculptures of Mohini, Lord Rama, Kamadeva,  Rati and many other deities.

Lord Vadapathrasai temple has two precincts. The sanctum in the second level approached through a flight of steps houses the image of Lord Vadapathrasai in a reclining posture and His consorts, Sridevi and Bhudevi, are shown attending to Him at His feet.