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The
emergence this koil has a bizarre background Listen Next to Nataraja's temple in
Chidambaram, there is another famous temple lying at a distance of half a kilometer
and it is dedicated to Mahakali. The vast temple built in the Dravidian architectural style is very grand, and more than the construction,
the presiding deity-Mahakali has an awe-some and exalted background. She was a
grama devata worshipped with ardor from time immemorial. According to Puranas,
a great sage living in Kasi learnt about the unusual glory of the linga, then
found under a tree called Thillai. Selling down here, he worshipped it with a
great difference-he used to bring flowers untrained by the contact of bees and
insects, subsisting on by sucking the honey. Unfortunately his desire was hard
to be fulfilled, since before dawn itself the honey bees in swarms pollute them
by sucking. So he prayed the Lord for the blessing of special legs that could
run as fast as that of tiger noted for its swiftness. Pleased with his genuine
aspiration Paramasiva fulfilled his desire and with them he was leaping and
running out beating tiger in speed during his collection of flowers. So he was
called Vyagrapada.
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