Constructed in the Dravidian style of architecture, the temple is extolled in the Nalayira Divya Prabandham, the early medieval Tamil canon of the Alvar saints from the 6th–9th centuries CE.

It is one of the 108 Divya Desams dedicated to Vishnu, who is worshipped as Pandava Tutar Perumal (Krishna) and his consort Lakshmi (Rukmini.)

The temple is believed to have been built by the Pallavas of the late 8th century CE with later contributions from Medieval Cholas and Vijayanagara kings.

Krishna, being the avatar of Vishnu, assumed his vishvarupa, his cosmic form, to all the Kaurava courtiers, and also to Dhritarashtra, the blind king and father of Duryodhana.

The cost of the 2,000 kulis(tax-free) was 11 kalanjus equal in finesse of Madhuranthaka madai and the assembly could not levy in consequences vellikasu, nirallai, silvari, sorumattu etc.

Records gift of two kalanjus and two manjadi by a merchant to the pujari (temple priest) who were to supply two malis of curd daily.

[5][6] There are inscriptions on the base of the western wall of the central shrine from the period of Rajadhiraja Chola II (1166-78 CE) indicating gifts of 32 cows for lighting lamps of the temple.

The Maha mandapa is believed to have been built by the Cholas, while the adjacent hall during the period of the [citation needed]Vijayanagara Empire.

The central shrine of the temple has a large image of the presiding deity Pandava Tutar, which has a height of 25 ft (7.6 m).

[11] The preceding hall to the main sanctum, Mukha Mandapa, has bronze images of the festival deities of the temple and the Alvars.

The most prominent of them is of Arulala Permula Emburamanar, the disciple of Ramanuja, whose image is rarely found in other Vishnu temples.

The temple rituals are performed six times a day: Ushathkalam at 7 a.m., Kalasanthi at 8:00 a.m., Uchikalam at 12:00 p.m., Sayarakshai at 6:00 p.m., Irandamkalam at 7:00 p.m. and Ardha Jamam at 10:00 p.m. Each ritual has three steps: alangaram (decoration), neivethanam (food offering) and deepa aradanai (waving of lamps) for both Pandava Tutar and Rukmini.