One of the greatest Hindu scholars of Vaishnava Vishishtadvaita philosophy, Ramanuja, is believed to have resided in this temple.

According to Hindu legend, Saraswati cursed the king of celestial deities, Indra, to become an elephant and roam around the place.

Indra, the king of the devas, is believed to have installed the silver and golden lizards in the temple, who were the witness of the ordeal, after being released from the curse of the goddess Saraswati.

The temple deity, Vishnu, laid himself flat to stay the flow and the yagna was successfully performed.

Vishnu emerged with brilliance of thousand Suns as Varadharajaswamy inside the athi tree, and stayed here permanently until he was submerged in nearby tank since the deity came from yagna done by Brahma (Historically speaking, his placement may have been due to fear of invasion by the Delhi Sultanate).

When a Mughul invasion was expected in 1688, the main image of the deity was sent to Udayarpalayam, now part of Tiruchirappalli district.

[10] It was brought back with greater difficulty after the involvement of local preceptor who enlisted the services of general Todarmal.

Another record dated 1726 CE mentions that another Dvaita saint and Peetadhipathi of Uttaradi Matha by the name Satyavijaya Tirtha was honoured in the temple with some privileges.

[13] There are inscriptions dated 1532 CE (record 544 of 1919) indicating the gift of number of villages made by Achutaraya.

But the chieftain of Udayarpalayam opposed the move and only after the intervention of Paramahamsa Parivajakacharya Attan Jeer, the deities were returned.

In retrospection Tirumalai Nambi's[16] son Tirukkurukai Piran Pillan was ordained by Ramanuja himself as the first and foremost among the 74 Peetadhipathis to propagate Visishtadwaita philosophy after him.

The annotation of Tiruvaymoli thus brought out by Pillan[17] under the behest of Ramanuja is called the famous 'Araiyarpadi' the first gloss in Manipravala, an elegant mixture of Tamil and Sanskrit words, on the Divya Prabhandam.

Since then the office of Sri Kariyam is institutionalised in the diligence and devotion of the Thathacharyas to the Varadharaja Perumal temple in Kanchipuram.

Lakshmi Kumara Thathachariar inherited this mantle from his ancestors and made epoch making contributions to the temple annals.

He was the Sri Kariya Durandhara – a phrase connoting absolute dedication and authority – of the temple affairs.

In Ayengarkulam, a village named after him near Kanchipuram, he built a tank and temple to Sri Rama and Hanuman.

The temple is maintained and administered by the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department of the Government of Tamil Nadu,[19] having the Thathachariars as the Honorary Trustees.

[21] There are 32 shrines, 19 vimanams (towers), 389 pillared halls (most having the lion type yali sculpture)[22] and sacred tanks some of which located outside the complex.

[4] The image of the presiding deity is designed in such a way that on the 15th day after Chitra Purnima, the rays of the Sun fall on the idol.

[4] Apart from the main stone idol, the temple has the wooden image of Varadharajaswamy made of Atthi or the fig tree and preserved under water in a secret chamber.

[32] In the second precinct downstairs contains four shrines, of which the important one is of Malayala Nachiar (Kerala consort), presumably built during the Chera kings in the early 14th century.

[10] There are four small pillared halls, identical in structure, called Thulabara Mandapas built during the 1532 for a ceremony of Achyutaraya of the Vijayanagara Empire.

The shrine is believed to have been constructed during the time of Kulothunga III during 1191 CE by Ilavalagan Kalingarayan of Nettur as seen from the inscriptions in the temple.

The kings also added pillared columns in the leading hall sculpted with figures from Ramayana and various forms of Vishnu.

A divine voice informed the king in his dreams that he can pickup wealth from a nearby place and relieve Thirumangai Alvar.

[10] In one of the verses, he extols the deity: The temple also finds mention in the Thirtha Prabandha, a travelogue with descriptions of pilgrim centers throughout India written by Sri Vadiraja Swamy.

Vedanta desikar and Lakshmi Kumara thathacharya gets arulapaadu(announcement) with temple’s shataari whenever perumal goes four side his sanctum.

During the bhramotsavam (major festival) in Vaigasi (May/June), thousands of people throng the temple and that increases twofold during the Garuda Vahanam and the Ther Thiruvila, the chariot procession.

In 1709, the icon was accidentally rediscovered when the temple tank was emptied; thereafter the tradition of worshipping the deity once in 40 years was established.