Nithyakalyana Perumal Temple

Nithyakalyana Perumal Temple stands in Thiruvidandai, on the Chennai–Mahabalipuram East Coast Road about 38 km from Chennai. Its presiding deity is Varaha, Vishnu in his boar avatar, with Lakshmi worshipped as Komalavalli Thayar, and it counts among the 108 Divya Desams. The name means the god who marries for eternity: legend says Lakshmi took the forms of the 360 daughters of sage Kalava so that Varaha could wed one each day of the year.

The Pallavas built the original temple in the 7th century, when Thiruvidandai was one of their port towns, and the Cholas added to it in the 11th century. Its inscriptions include a lamp gift recorded under the Rashtrakuta king Krishna III in 959 CE, and the Archaeological Survey of India protects it as a monument. The sanctum, reached through a sixteen-pillared hall carved with legends, holds a granite Varaha about 7 ft tall with Bhudevi on his lap. The temple also owns an ivory palanquin. Its main festivals are the Chittirai Brahmotsavam and Vaikuntha Ekadashi.