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This story is a renowned one not only, in Hindu mythology, but also in the Buddhist Jataka tales, which give us the lives of Siddhartha, the Buddha, in his previous Janmas. The Sibi Jataka is as hoary and sacred to the Buddhist, as an embodiment of 'Saranagata vatsala,' as Sibi Chakravarti is to the Hindu, as a supreme symbol of 'Raja Dharma' which enjoins a king to protect the refugee even at the cost of his own life. This is probably the only temple in the whole of India dedicated to Lord Siva as Kapotheswara.Till very recently there used to stand outside the south wall of the courtyard of the temple, an enormous Boabad tree, which was 56 feet round the trunk, and which was very hollow inside. The tree collapsed in 1917, and formerly it was much venerated by the pilgrims who visited the temple.
The deity is in Lingakara. Siva is here represented as Kapotheswara, who gave a portion of his own body in order to save a pigeon that took refuge with him.Curiously, in the imago of the Linga there are even today large cavities as if portions have been scooped or cut out, and these are said to be the places of the body, from which the Lord cut off his own flesh, in order to save the life of the Kapotha.
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