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It is one of the Divya Desams, the 108 temples of Vishnu revered in Nalayira Divya Prabandham by the 12 poet saints, or Alwars. Divya Desam No. 12.

The temple is believed to be of significant antiquity with contributions at different times from Medieval Cholas, Vijayanagar Empire, and Madurai Nayaks. The temple is enshrined within a huge granite wall and the complex contains all the shrines and the water bodies of the temple. 

Majority of the Divyadesa temples have Sorgavasal open on the Vaikunta Ekadasi day occurring in December-January.  But there is no one such in this temple as Perumal came to this Divyadesa directly from His Vaikunta Divyadesa.  The very worship of Perumal Lord Sarangapani would take devotees to salvation. 

Perumal usually appears with His discus and conch.  The presiding deity and the procession deity of the temple are holding a bow too known as Sarngam, hence, the name of the Lord, Sarangapani.  The bow in the hands of the presiding deity is not visible.  

Kumbakonam is the birth place of Mother Komalavalli.  After the marriage Lord chose to stay here itself with His consort – that is in His mother-in-law’s house.  In Tamil, this called Veettoda Mappillai.  Hence, Mother is dominant in the temple.  The first worship goes to Mother only.

The mercy of Lord Perumal Sarangapani towards His devotees is above the power of words.  A devotee Lakshmi Narayanaswami served Lord throughout his life.  He is the one who built the Rajagopuram of the temple.  But he was childless.  

He reached the Lotus feet of Lord on a Deepavali day.  Any one having no heir to perform the last rites would go to hell, according to sastras.  But Lord cannot ignore His devotee.  He performed the last rites for His devotee.  

Next day, when the temple was opened, people saw Him with a wet dhoti and His sacred thread – Poonool in Tamil and Yagnopavitha in Sanskrit – changed on the right shoulder, darba in hands in rite-performing manner.

This event is followed on Deepavali days during the mid-day Puja, but devotees are not allowed to witness this.

Perumal in the temple is also praised as Aravamudha Azhwar as He was instrumental for the compilation of Nalayaira Divya Prapandam – 4000 verses about the glory of Perumal. 

Of the Perumals in Divya Desas praised by Azhwars, Srirangam has Mangalasasanams of 11 Azhwars, Tirupathi Venkatachalapathi 10 and Kumbakonam Lord Sarangapani from 7 Azhwars.  

The raja gopuram (the main gateway) has eleven tiers and has a height of 173 ft (53 m). The Potramarai tank, the temple tank, is located opposite the western entrance of the temple.

As per Hindu legend, Sarangapani appeared for a sage Hema Rishi, who performed penance in the bank of Potramarai tank. The penance was performed to obtain Lakshmi, the consort of Vishnu, as his daughter. Vishnu was pleased by the penance and He wished the sage to get Lakshmi as his daughter. 

Lakshmi emerged from the Potramarai tank among thousand lotuses and was thus named Komalavalli (the one who emerged from lotus). Vishnu descended to earth as Aravamudhan in a chariot drawn by horses and elephants from His abode Vaikuntam. He stayed in the nearby Someswaran Temple to woo Lakshmi to marry Him and the couple eventually got married.

the temple except for the Potramarai tank. There are five other smaller gopurams in the temple is enshrined within a huge wall and the complex enshrines all the water bodies of ple.

 The raja gopuram has figures depicting various religious stories. The temple faces east and the Potramarai tank is located outside the western entrance. The central shrine of the temple is in the form of a chariot drawn by horses and elephants, with openings on either side, showing the descent of Sarangapani from heaven in the chariot.

There is a sculptural representation of the sage Hemarishi in the western part of the temple. The central shrine of the temple houses the image of Sarangapani in pallikonda posture, with His head resting on his right hand. The are other images of sage Hemarishi, Lakshmi and festival images enshrined within the sanctum. 

There are two stepped entrances to the sanctum named as Utharayana Vaasal and Dhakshanayana Vaasal, each open for a six-month period. From 15 January to 15 July, Utharayanya Vaasal is opened while Dhakshanaya Vaasal is opened during the other half of the year. 

The Potramarai tank has a central hall called Hemarishi Mandapam. The temple has two processional chariots carved out of wood stationed outside the rajagopuram.

Lord Perumal’s reclining postures are different in different places.  The one in Sarangapani temple is praised as Uddhana Sayana.  Saint Thirmazhisai Azhwar in his Mangalasasanam hymn asked Lord “Are you resting as your legs pain due to long walk”. 

 Perumal tried to get up to grace Azhwar.  Azhwar asked Perumal to give the darshan in the half-waking up posture.  He is not in a complete reclining posture here as such.