Azhagiya Manavalan Perumal Temple, Uraiyur

Azhagiya Manavalan Perumal Temple, also known as Thirukozhi or Nachiyar Koil, is a Vishnu temple in Uraiyur, a suburb of Tiruchirappalli, and one of the 108 Divya Desams. Legend says the childless Chola king Nanda Chola found a baby girl, an incarnation of Lakshmi, in a lotus tank and named her Kamalavalli; she later married Ranganatha of Srirangam, who came here as the beautiful groom, Azhagiya Manavalan. Another story, of a fowl defeating an elephant, gave the place the name Kozhiyur.

Later Pandya, Vijayanagar and Madurai Nayak rulers contributed to the temple. A five-tiered rajagopuram leads in, and the goddess Kamalavalli Nachiyar faces north, said to be unique among Divya Desams. The Nammalvar shrine carries paintings from the early 1800s of Vishnu's avatars, Alvars and Acharyas. Uraiyur is held to be the birthplace of Thiruppaan Alvar. In the Serthi Sevai festival in Panguni, the festival image of Namperumal is brought from Srirangam and placed with Nachiyar. The chariot festival in Chittirai is the main yearly event.