The town of Vikravandi, located between Tindivanam and Viluppuram, has three temples of historical significance – the Bhuvaneswarar temple and Agasteeswarar temple for Lord Siva, and the Varadaraja Perumal temple for Lord Vishnu. Unfortunately, no historical information is available for any of these three temples.

Modern day Vikravandi was on the trade route from Thanjavur to Kanchipuram, and going by the architecture here, this temple for Lord Vishnu as Varadaraja Perumal must be at least 1000 years old, placing it in the medieval to late Chola period.

The temple itself faces east, with a 5-storey tall raja gopuram. Once inside there is a dhwajasthambham, and a shrine for Garuda, before the mandapam housing the main garbhagriham and other deities.

At the time of our visit, the temple was undergoing activities for its upcoming samprokshanam, so much of the temple was closed or covered. Therefore, the moolavar deity was kept in a separate shrine to the right, and the garbhagriham was closed. In the prakaram, there are no other deities, including Thayar or Andal – all of these are housed in the main mandapam itself.