on either side. According to this legend the hermitage of the rishi became the Pottramarai tank of the temple. Parimala Ranganatha Perumal Temple The Parimala Ranganatha Perumal Temple is also one of the 108 Divya Desams. It is located on the banks of the Kaveri River, in Mayiladuthurai in Tamil Nadu. The legend of the temple is related to a pious bandit-turned-Alvar saint Parakal, known for his devotion to Ranganatha. Lord Vishnu transformed him by teaching the Narayana mantra or Ashtaksara (the eight syllabled) – "namo narayanaya", turning the robber into a saint who then starts singing the first verse of Peria Thirumozhi/ Peria Thirumoli (Vaadinen Vaadi). Then Lord Ranganatha agrees to permanently reside in his town Tirunakari as Parimala Perumal and Parakal built a temple for him and remained there permanently offering prayers to the god.[23] god. The Temple town is now known as Thiruindaloor in Mayuram taluk of Nagaipattinam district in Tamil Nadu. The practice of playing nadasvaram (a wind musical instrument) at temples, though in vogue for centuries, did not have any sahityam or music based literature or lyrics to go with it. Then a beginning was made by renowned musicians who composed a rakti, a musical composition with 2 to 8 notes according to their skills and then played it in Parimala Ranganatha Temple. Thereafter, it became a popular rendition in the nadasvaram. The rakti (lyrics) played in the Parimala Ranganatha temple at Tiruvizhandur was made famous by Tiruvizhandur Subrahmanya Pillai and Kurainadu Natesa Pillai, who were among the reputed rakti players of an earlier generation. Sri Radhakrishna Pillai was also a well known player of this instrument in recent times. Sri Renganatha Perumal Temple, Vadarengam The last place in this list is known as VadaRangam as it is situated north of all these places (Vada in Tamil means north) or as Vata Rangam as the temple was once located in a forest of banyan (vata in Sanskrit) trees. Though there are not many banyan trees in the area today, the single tree found near the temple lends credence to this view. There is also an ancient Shiva temple, Jambukeswara here. This place is considered to be as holy as Srirangam as the temples of Lords Ranganatha and Sri Jambukeswara are situated close to each other. However, both the temples are in a highly dilapidated condition now due to the ravages of nature and the fury