Kanagasabapathi, Karisuzhnthamangalam

In the ancient days, a King called Singavarman gave up his royal life and became a saint. In a forest of Thillai Trees (present-day Chidambaram area) he saw Sages Vyagrapadar and Pathanjali in penance and decided to be there. He shared the divine vision of Lord Shiva dancing for the 2 sages. Upon their advice he created the dance posture as 2 metal idols, one in copper and one in gold. It is believed that the lord not wanting to be in gold changed the metal to copper. Of these two the first one was taken to a place called Chepparai near Tirunelveli and the other was kept in Chidambaram. The sculptor was one Namachivaya Muthu. Further to this the ruler of a place called Katterimangalam, Veerapandyan who ruled under another King Ramapandya requested him to employ the same sculptor to create two more. One each for Katterimangalam and another for the Nellaiappar temple in Tirunelveli. This was done and upon seeing the beauty of the pieces Veerapandyan chopped off the hands of the sculptor to prevent him from creating more. One was carried to Katterimangalam and one was taken towards Tirunelveli. The second group of carriers were prevented to proceed by the Tamiraparani in spate. They left the idol on the banks which was washed away and discovered by villagers later. The idol washed away and found later could not be moved and the Lord appeared in King Ramapandya’s dream asking him to build the temple there itself. This became Karisuzhnthamangalam. Later the sculptor provided with wooden appendages made one more such idol which was kept in Karuvelankulam near Kalakkad.