Varadaraja Swami temple is situated at Kanchipuram, approximately 75 km from Chennai. It covers almost miles of landscapes of the town. The origin of this temple can be traced back to the 6th century AD. This temple is dedicated to Lord Vishnu and is one of the largest temples in Kanchi and in the whole of India.

Varadaraja Swami temple was praised in the hymns of the Alvars or Vaishnava saints. It is now one of the hundred and eight Divya Desams, which are enthusiastically visited by the Sri Vaishnavas. This temple is one of the well-known religious centres in India. The shrine here is one of the places, which are liked by the art-lovers, epigraphists, historians and archaeologists. After its origin in the 6th century, many kings associated with Kanchipuram have added various structures to it and thus it became a massive temple complex with many shrines and sub-shrines, prakaras (circumambulatory passages) and mandapas (pavilions). The Varadaraja Swami temple has now become a veritable treasure house of iconography with its several sculptures of different deities and other sculptures of gypsies, jesters, flora and fauna.

The main sanctum of the Varadaraja Swami temple has the image of Lord Varadaraja. It is itself very unique as it is situated on a small hillock inside the temple complex. Inside the temple, there are hundreds of inscriptions engraved on the walls. These belong to the various dynasties associated with this city at some point of time like the Cholas, Pandyas, Hoysalas, Kakatiyas, Vijayanagara, Nayakas and many other smaller feudatory kings. These inscriptions were written in different languages like Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, etc. These were engraved in the Grantha alphabet as also in the ancient Tamil and Telugu scripts. It is known from these inscriptions that this temple had received numerous gifts, especially of land, gold and jewels from various sources.

The temple chariot of the Varadaraja Swami Temple of Kanchipuram is regarded as one of the largest in South India. During the Brahmotsavam in the month of May/ June, the main festival of the temple, the deities of the temple are taken out in procession. Several numbers of beautiful wooden sculptures are affixed on the temple chariot, which delight the viewers on close observation. Thousands of art lovers and history and cultural lovers from India and all over the world come here to see the treasures in stone of the Varadaraja Swami Temple of Kanchipuram.