01The ball and the cow
Parvati wished to play ball, and Shiva made the four Vedas into balls for her. She played on and on, Surya held back his setting for her, and the rishis could not do their sandhya rites. When Shiva came she did not notice him; he kicked the ball away and she was cursed to be born as a cow, to be freed by pouring her milk on the linga beneath the tree where the balls fell. Vishnu tended her as a cowherd. Maharshi Kanva, finding his milk short, followed her, saw her at an anthill pouring milk on the hidden linga, and struck her; startled, she kicked the anthill, and its mark is said to remain. So the village is Pandanainallur, from pandu, a ball, and the Lord is Pasupatheeswarar. The linga, short and anthill-born, is kept under a covering.
02Inscriptions and festivals
The oldest parts of the present stone temple are Chola. Its earliest inscription dates from Rajaraja I, and later ones come from Vikrama Chola, Rajadhiraja II, Kulottunga III and Rajaraja III, with grants from the Vijayanagara period too; they call the Lord Pasupati Devar and the village Pandanainallur. The temple covers close to two acres within three prakarams behind a five-tiered rajagopuram. The Surya Theertham with a mandapa at its centre lies opposite, and there is a shrine of Adikesava Perumal. Panguni Uttiram and Masi Magam are the main festivals. Appar and Sambandar each sang a padigam here.
About 20 km from Mayiladuthurai; buses from Mayiladuthurai, Kumbakonam and Kuthalam.
