Anbil, a small village, is home to a Vishnu temple dedicated to Azhagiya Nambi who is seen reclining on Adisesha facing east. This temple is one among the 108 Divya Desams or places sacred to Vishnu eulogised by the Azhvars or important devotees of Narayana. Thirumazhisai Azhvar visited this temple and has composed one Tamil verse (Pasuram) about this God. The name Anbil has continued to be used for this place, unchanged since the time of this Azhvar as he has mentioned this word in his hymn.
The west side of Anbil, called Mel Anbil is where the Vishnu temple is located and the east side, known as Kil Anbil has a temple for Siva. The processional image of this Vishnu temple is worshipped as Sundararaja Perumal and also as Rupa Narayanan. These deities are enshrined under the Taraka Vimanam. Goddess Lakshmi is known as Azhagiyavalli Nachiyar, while the utsava-murti of Thayar is called Senbagavalli (Champakalakshmi) Thayar.
Interestingly, the temple tank (pushkarini), known as Manduka Tirtham is common to both the Vishnu and Siva temples. The name Manduka was given to this tank since a sage (rishi) who was cursed to become a frog (manduka) had his ritual bath in this temple for a prescribed number of days and was subsequently released from his curse by Perumal. The River Kollidam which flows close to this temple is also considered a Tirtham of this shrine.
Numerous inscriptions have been found here, especially of the Chola and Vijayanagara eras. They refer to donations of gold and land to this religious institution. An important bilingual copper-plate inscription, discovered in Anbil, belonging to the reign of Parantaka Chola II, also called Sundara Chola (956-973 CE), is historically important. The epigraph mentions that the poet of the Samskrit part of this epigraph called Madhava Bhatta, was a student of Sriwnatha. According the to the editor of this inscription, this Srinatha was Nathamuni, the famous preceptor (Acharya) of the Sri Vaishnava tradition.
Traditional name
Anbil was once known as Prema Puri
Sacred tree
The Sthala Vriksham here is the Thazhampoo
