Famous Temples in India

Religious Significance

The name of the village is said to have come about because of the servant of the Pallava Queen who lived here and another version is attributed to the Sevvalli (red water lilies) that were found in the ponds here, according to the sthala purana, once upon a time, in a place called Naimisaaranyam, a rishi by the name Vishnu Sithar, enquired with other sages about the best place to get dharshan of Lord Vishnu by his self penance. Among other rishis, one rishi called Mareecha Muni explained to him about the existence of such a place on the earth, where one’s penance (Tapas) will get fulfilled with the dharshan of Lord Narayana and guided him to this place which was called Padmagiri. Also he told the story of Athri rishi, who got the dharshan of the Lord in this place in the form of Sri Lakshmi Narasimhar, after his severe and dedicated penance. It is said that, Athri Rishi, after having dharshan of the lord, pleaded the lord to stay in this place and bless the people worshipping here. The lord accepted his wish and stayed here in the same form to bless the mankind. In Krutha yuga, there lived a great devotee of Lord Vishnu, who wanted to take bath daily in river Ganga, which emerges from the foot of Sriman Narayana. He took bath in this Sangamam and treated this water as the Ganga River and worshipped the Vishnu in Sudharsana malai (Hill). Another saint lived here and treated this river as the river Yamuna. Because of this, both the rivers Yamuna and Ganga emerged here and the other river Vegabagha (Saraswathi river) also emerged and these 3 rivers merge in the great Pazhaya seevaram sthala. This river flows in between Padmagiri and Sudharsana malai.