01The coin on the step
Pugazhthunai Nayanar carried water from the Arasalar every day for the Lord’s abhishekam. Famine came, he grew old and hungry, and one morning the pot slipped from his shaking hands onto the linga. He fell in a faint, grieving that he had struck his Lord. In a dream Shiva told him that while the famine lasted a coin would be on the step, padi, each day; it was, and with it he fed himself and the village. So the Lord is Padikasunathar, and devotees still leave two coins at the pedestal and take one back. The priests trace their line to the Nayanar, whose Guru Puja falls on Ayilyam in Avani. Murugan here has twelve arms and, unusually, holds a conch and a discus.
About 6–7 km from Kumbakonam on the Natchiyarkoil road, beside the Azhagaputhur bus stop. The temple faces west; Masi Magam is the main festival.
