01The white cow
The temple’s katha says Sambandar was passing by without stopping, so the Lord came to him as a little boy and then as an old man; when the saint still did not know him, he became a white cow and walked to the shrine, and Sambandar followed it in and sang. The Devi’s Tamil name, Thayinum Nallal, means kinder than a mother. The Lord is Arambeswarar because Rambha, Urvashi and Menaka, the apsaras who had lost their grace, worshipped here, and Deivanayakeswarar because a konrai flower fell from his hair as he rode out against the three cities and became this swayambhu linga.
Visiting
Near Sriperumbudur, west of Chennai; reach by road from Sriperumbudur or Perambakkam.
