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The nine vaishnava shrines hailed as ‘Navatirupati’, are related to the ‘Navagrahas’ or the nine planets or celestial bodies, and the deities in these temples are worshipped as the ‘navagrahas’ themselves. 

 In this temple, Lord Vishnu is in the standing posture under the umbrella, Adisesha. 

Two legends are associated with this temple. Once an asura by the name Somakan appropriated the Vedas from Lord Brahma, and Lord Vishnu retrieved it from the demon. Since the Lord came directly from His abode Vaikuntam and agreed to remain here, this place came to be known as Srivaikuntam. 

 Kaaladhushakan, a robber, robbed people only after worshipping Vaikuntanathan, and surrendered half of what he had plundered to the Lord. He was a Robin Hood of those days, looting the rich and helping the poor. 

Once his men, while ransacking the palace, were caught by the King’s soldiers. They had to identify their leader; when Kaladhushakan came to know about it, he prayed to the Lord of Srivaikuntam to save him. 

The Lord appeared before the King as Kaaladhushakan and counseled him to protect dharma.

Having had this beatific vision, the King requested the Lord to remain in this place as ‘Kallappiraan’.

As per another legend, the vigraham of Vaikuntanathar, over the period of several ages, had no patrons and was left submerged under the earth. A cow from a herd of the king, which used to graze at the place, worshiped the Lord by showering its milk. 

The king was displeased to see that a particular cow alone was not yielding milk and thought it might have been the trick of the herdsman. He deployed his men to monitor the cow, who reported the events to the king. 

The king realized that the cow would lead him to divinity and he dug up the region around the place. He reinstated the vigraham of Vaikuntanathar and expanded the temple. 

The Sun’s rays fall at the feet of the Lord twice in a year on the 6th of the Tamil months Chithirai (April-May) and Aipasi (October-November).

Constructed in the Dravidian style of architecture, the temple is glorified in the Divya Prabandha, the early medieval Tamil canon of the Azhwar saints from the 6th–9th centuries AD. 

The 9-tier rajagopuram is 110 ft tall. The temple occupies an area of 5 acres and is surrounded by a granite wall 580 ft long and 396 ft broad. 

The sanctum houses the vigraham of Lord Srivaikunanatha in a standing posture with a club in His hand. Adisesha, the serpent of Vaikuntanath, is seen holding a parasol over His head. The vigraham is made of Saligrama stone and ablution is usually done with milk. 

The hall preceding the sanctum, the Artha Mandapam, houses the festival vigraham of Kallapiran made of panchaloha with the images of Sridevi and Bhudevi on either of His sides. It is believed that the sculptor caressed the cheeks of the vigraham of the Lord with his hand as he got enchanted by the vigraham and it can be seen on the vigraham!

This is the only temple where Adisesha, the serpent, guards Vishnu in a standing posture unlike the other places where it covers the Lord while being in a sitting or reclining posture.

There are numerous images of yalis, elephants and Devas in the hall, some of which are even 5 feet wide. The major vigrahams seen in the temple are that of Bhikshadana, Venugopala, Madanagopala, Govardhanagiri, Nammazhwar, Manmatha and Rathi. 

Depiction of Hanuman in various poses can be seen in the temple. There are life-size images of Agora Veerabhadra and warriors. Rama is seen hugging the monkey king Sugreeva with His right hand and holding His bow in the left, and on His left stands Sita, while in another pillar, He is seen hugging Hanuman with His right hand and Angada is seen standing in obeisance. 

The corridor inside the temple has paintings having the details about the 108 shrines of Vishnu. There are also paintings detailing the coronation of Lord Rama.

Brahmanda Purana one of the eighteen sacred texts of Hinduism and written by Veda Vyasa contains a chapter called Navathirupathi Mahatmeeyam.

The temple address is: Lord Vaikuntanathan temple, Srivaikuntam, Thoothukkudi District, Tamil Nadu 628601. 

The Nava Tirupathi temples are approachable by road from Tirunelveli. As these temples have different timings for darshan, it is better to hire a car from Tirunelveli and visit them. Depending on the time of the year and the crowd, it is possible to visit all the nine temples in a day or two.