[4][5] According to Sri Vaishnava tradition, the 1,000 verses of the Paduka Sahasra were composed in a single night by Vedanta Desika as a part of a literary contest.

By doing so, the poet defeated Alagiya Manavala Perumal, a theologian of the Tenkalai sect, who had only been able to compose 300 verses during the allotted period.

The episode of Bharata receiving the sandals of his brother Rama to place them upon the throne of Ayodhya to begin his regency is conceived as the crux of the epic, interpreted with great spiritual significance.

[8] Desika offers a poetic description of the sandals in one of his verses:[9] surabhi nigama gandhā saumyapadmākarasthā kanakakamalinīva prekshyasē pādukē tvambramara iva sadhā tvām prāptha nānā vihāraḥ shathamakha maṇinīlaḥ sēvathē sāraṅgadhanvāO sandals, having the perfume named the Vedas and residing in the beautiful lotus pond, you are effulgent as a golden lotus.

Multi-sport-driven, having the green body brilliance like the emeralds, holding a bow named Sharanga, God is experiencing you all the time just like the bees.