Vadapalani is a famous Subrahmanya temple .The meaning of Vadapalani is North Palani. It is said that a picture of Lord Subrahmanya was brought to this place by a devotee from Palani as per the instruction of Lord Subrahmanya himself.

There is a very interesting story regarding the origin of the temple.Annaswamy Nayagar was a great devotee of Lord Subrahmanya. Once when he was going around the shops of Tiruttani, he noticed a particular picture of Subrahmanya. He wanted to make the picture his own, but did not have any money. Lord appeared in the dream of the shop keeper and asked him to present the gift to Annaswamy Nayagar, which he did. He worshipped the picture. He chose his friend Ratnavel Chettiar as his successor to distribute the holy ashes. Ratnavel Chettiar converted the house of Annaswamy Nayagar into a temple and instructed a sculptor to make an image of Lord Subrahmanya as per the specifications given This place is in Vadapalani. The sculptor observed a fast before sculpting and later finished his work which was his best creation ever. The present state of the Vadapalani temple can be attributed to Bagialinga Tambiran who performed poojas day in and out and collected enormous wealth for the temple. This Tambiran was an ardent Saivite. The picture brought by Annaswamy Nayagar from Palani is still worshipped in the temple.

Lord Muruga or Subrahmanya is a popular deity in Tamilnadu. Hence the Vadapalani temple has a lot of devotees worshipping regularly.