Idli has been written about in various ancient Indian texts. It has been mentioned in the 7th-century Kannada work 'Vaddaradhane'. This text describes the preparation of a rice-based preparation called 'Iddalige.' Idli was also mentioned in the 10th-century Tamil text 'Periya Puranam.' This narrates the life story of the 63 Nayanars, a group of Shaivite saints.