Once upon a time a number of rishis were discussing as to who among the trinity is the greatest. There was no concences among the well knowledgeable and respected rishis, and so they were confused. At this time Sage Brighu happened to pass by and they decided to entrust the issue to him for finding a solution.

Brighu accepted and went to Mount Kailash first. There the Dwara Palakas refused entry to him as Lord Siva and Parvati were alone and were not to be disturbed. This upset Brighu, who then decided that since Siva was not approachable at any time, he cannot be the greatest. He then left to Satya loka to see Brahma, who was bussy in creation that he did not notice Brighu's precense. So he left Staya loka and went to Vaikunta.

When he reached Vaikunta, Lord Vishnu received him will great respect and made kind enquiries. At this time Brighu desired a separate audience with only the Perumal being present. All present left except Sri Lakshmi, who has her place permanently on Lord's chest. She, however, requested the rishi to leave as the other members of retinue. This angered Brighu who cursed that Lakshmi would be born in the world among the human race. However, Brighu came to the conclusion that only Lord Vishnu among the trinity is Supreme as HE showed abosolute kindness and concern to the rishi when he went there.

However, Lakshmi Devi felt sad about the curse, to which the Lord promised he would follow her to earth shortly. During this a Chola king by name Dharmavarma and his queen lived in Kumbakonam, the capital for Chola Nadu at that time. He, one day, decided to go for hunting in a forest known as Kararanyam, which was a favourite place for rishis to perform tapas. When the king went there, he noticed the rishis performing tapas and fell in love with the beauty of the location. He came to know that the rishis were being troubled by some demons. So he decied to stay there and protect them. He also built a small town and named it after his queen as Nichulapuram.

All was fine, except the king was disappointed that he had no progeny. He approached the rishis to help him peform a yaga for this purpose. At this time an Asareeri mentioned that he should pray to Goddess Lakshmi, and she will be born to them as their daughter. So he performed the Lakshmi Tantra and Lakshmi Devi appered in front and assured the king that Thaayaar herself would be born as his daughter.

In the course of time, a baby girl was born to them and they named her Vasa Lakshmi. Latter a baby boy was born who was named as Chandra Tilakan, who became a great Vishnu bhakta. The girl used to constantly play with an idol of Vishnu. When she came of age, the king arranged for a swayam varam, where a lot of hopeful princes were assembled. Sri Ranganatha also heared about the Swayam varam and was present there as a Raja kumara. The moment Vasa lakshmi entered the hall, she noticed Sri Ranganatha, identified Him as Lord Vishnu and went near him and adorned the graland around the neck of Ranganatha. The king and the queen celebrated the wedding of Vasa Lakshmi with Sri Ranganatha, they were happy to have thaayaar as their daughter and the Lord as son-in-law. The king built a temple for Sri Ranganatha in his kalyaana tirukkolam. After some time he entrusted the kingdom to his son and reached vaikuntam.








Source:
1. 108 Vasihnavaite Divya Desam by Miss M. S. Ramesh.