Sri Pandava Dhootha Perumal Temple is the 49th among 108 Divya Desams of Lord Vishnu. The presiding deity of the temple Sri Pandava Dhootha is in a huge form called Vishva-rupa of Lord Krishna. The awe-inspiring, gigantic twenty five feet deity of Lord Krishna as Visva-rupa (Universal form) is in sitting posture facing east. Temple is associated with the pastime when Lord Sri Krishna went to the Kauravas as a messenger (duta) of the Pandavas to make a peace treaty to avoid warfare. Duryodhana, the king of the Kauravas, had a plan to arrest and kill Krishna while He was in Hastinapura. He dug a deep pit and covered it with a carpet and a chair studded with gems. He had wrestlers hidden in the pit to wrangle Krishna. Lord Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, displayed His Vishvarupa, the Universal form, a giant form.
After hearing this pastime from the sage Vaisampayana, King Janamajeya, the great-grandson of Arjuna, did penance here to have darshan of Lord Krishna. Lord Krishna appeared in His divine form, Visva-rupa and blessed Janamajeya at this temple. Sri Krishna at this temple is called Padagam. Pada means big and Agam means residence, signifying Thirupadagam as the place where Vishnu resides with his giant form.

The temple is considered as one of the three oldest Vishnu temples in Kanchipuram, the other two being Ulagalantha Perumal Temple and Yathothkari Perumal Temple. The central shrine of the temple has a large image of the presiding deity Pandava dhoothar, which has a height of 25 feet (7.6 m). Such a large deity of Lord Krishna is one of its kinds. The deity is seen seated in Arda Padmasana posture with his right leg bent to the basement. The right palm depicts the Abhaya Mudra for protection and the left arm depicts Varada Mudra for giving boon. The shrine faces east and the vimana of the temple is called Bhadra Vimana. The preceding hall to the main sanctum, Mukha Mandapa, has bronze images of the festival deities of the temple and Azhwars. The shrine of Rukmini is located to the south of the main shrine and has the deity of Rukmini. Deity of Lord Nrsimhadeva is located behind the main shrine. Matsya Theertham, the temple tank, is located on the north-eastern side of the temple. The major festival of the temple is Sri Krishna Janmastami.

Lord Sri Pandava Dhootha Perumal