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Nachiar Kovil or Thirunarayur Nambi Temple in Thirunarayur, a village in the outskirts of Kumbakonam in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, is dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu and his wife Lakshmi. It is the sub urban region of business city of Kumbakonam.

Sage Medhavi was a staunch  Vishnu devotee.  He wanted to have Lord as his son-in-law.  He performed penance sitting under the Vanjula tree to have Mother Mahalakshmi as his daughter.  

Mother appeared before the sage as a little pretty girl before him on the Utharam star day in Panguni (March-April).  

The sage named Her Vanjuladevi and brought Her up in his hermitage.  

Lord Mahavishnu came to earth in five forms as Sangarshanan, Pradyumnan, Anirudhan, Purushothaman and Vaasudevan to find Mahalakshmi and marry Her. 

 Each searched for Mother in different directions. 

Garuda Bhagwan who accompanied the Lord, spotted Mother in the Sage’s ashram and informed the Lord.  Perumal expressed His desire to the sage to marry his daughter.  

The sage accepted Lord’s wish on one condition that his daughter would have all powers in all matters. 

 Perumal agreed to the condition and had the hands of Mother. 

Lord told Garuda that he should have His place here blessing the devotees as He had to be under the influence of His wife.  

Thus Garuda Bhagwan became prominent in the temple.  Named after Mother-Nachiar in Vaishnavite terms, the place came to be known as Nachiar Kovil.

Tirumangai Azhwar, formerly Neelan the chieftain, spent all his wealth in the service of Lord Perumal. 

As he was not a Vaishnava, nobody recognized his bhakti and services.  Azhwar came to this place and begged Perumal to acknowledge him as His devotee. 

Pleased with Azhwar, Perumal placed the Vaishnava mudras-symbols of discus and conch on both his hands. 

 Mudradanam is a ceremony of accepting one in the Vaishnava group by placing the symbols of Discuss and Conch in hands. 

As the Lord came to this place as an Acharya-teacher, He appears with two hands.  The discus and the conch are on the reverse with the front Mudradanam style.  

As a token of his gratitude to Perumal, Tirumangai Azhwar sung over 100 verses praising the Lord and named Him Nambi.  Nambi in Tamil means a person of flawless traits.  

This is the only Divyadesa where Perumal came as a Guru and offered Mudradanam to a devotee.

The sanctum sanctorum is so designed centering the glory of Mother.  She is a little ahead of Perumal in a standing form.  

Worshipping Thayar-Mother in this form is considered to be very beneficial to the devotees. 

During processions, Mother has a parrot in Her hand and key bunch on Her hip confirming Her predominance over the Lord.

During processions too, Mother goes first, and the Lord follows Her. The first Abishek in a day is dedicated to Her.  

Sri Garuda Bhagwan graces the devotees from His shrine holding 9 snakes.  A six time puja with Modhaga- a pudding variety- is offered to Him as nivedhana.  

Generally, only wooden or metal idols are used for deities during the procession. Here, stone deities are used for the purpose.  Four people carry the Stone Garudar from the Sanctum Sanctorum. 

As the procession moves from one stage to the other, the weight of the Stone Garudar increases, and the number of people required increases to 8,  16, and finally 32! When  He is taken back to the Sanctum Sanctorum, the number of people required comes down in the same descending order!

Chola king Kochenganan is a staunch devotee of Lord Shiva and occupies a place among the Nayanmars.  He has built about 70 Shiva temples in his life.  He had a desire to see Lord Perumal in His abode Vaikuntam.  He prayed to Perumal.  Lord Perumal granted darshan to the king with two hands and ordered him to build a temple for Him.