In the year 1984, the sage Kanchi Paramacharya was camping at Gulbarga in Karnataka State, when Dr. Alagappa Alagappan, an Ex-UN Official went to have his darshan. He mentioned to the Acharya regarding having a single temple complex for all the six Padai Veedu temples of Lord Muruga at one place and that too in granite. The sage readily agreed and immediately arranged for an acre of land at Besant Nagar in Chennai near the sea, through the then Chief Minister of Tamilnadu, Late Mr. M. G. Ramachandran and HR & CE Minister Mr. RM. Veerappan. The Temple Complex is located on the shore of Bay of Bengal, behind Ashtalakshmi Temple.
Dr. Alagappan is the pioneer in building Hindu temples in the USA. First he built Maha Vallabha Ganapati temple in New York and was instrumental in building many others like the Venkatachalapati temple in Pittsburgh and the Meenakshi temple in Houston. He was advising and helping as well as organising temple architects (stapathis) from India to build these temples.
The Kanchi Acharya advised Dr. Alagappan to take up the project and guided him well. He has stressed that it is difficult for the devotees to visit all six Padai Veedus when touring Tamil Nadu. He wished it should be in a single seashore site and he was sure that Tamil Nadu would become prosperous on account of it. Swami Malai praharam and temple were built first in 1995, in remembrance of Paramacharya, whose original name was Swaminathan. Another three temples -- the Mahavallabha Ganapati, Palani and Tiruttani temples -- were completed and consecrated in 1998. Three other temples, namely Tiruchendur, Tirupparankundram and Palamudirsolai, have also been completed with the concecration having taken place in the presence of HH Śrī Jayendra Saraswati Swamigal of Śrī Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam on 21st June 2002.