Pandava Thoothar Perumal Temple

The Pandava Thoothar Perumal Temple, also called Thirupadagam, stands in Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu and honours Krishna as the Pandavas' envoy. Its legend retells the Mahabharata episode in which Krishna went to the Kaurava court to negotiate for the Pandavas: when Duryodhana tried to seize him from a pit hidden beneath his seat, Krishna revealed his cosmic vishvarupa form to the court and the blind king Dhritarashtra.

One of the hundred and eight Divya Desams sung by the Alvar saints between the 6th and 9th centuries, it ranks among Kanchipuram's three oldest Vishnu temples and was probably built under the Pallavas in the late 700s.

Chola inscriptions of the 1000s record gifts of lamps, cows and gardens, and later Vijayanagara rulers added to its halls. The Dravidian temple has a four-tiered gopuram, and its chief festival is Krishna Janmashtami.