01The dancer and the battlefield
The sages of Darukavana, proud of their rites, sent a tiger, serpents and the dwarf Muyalakan from their fire against Shiva. He wore the tiger’s skin, took the serpents as ornaments and danced upon Muyalakan, and the temple holds that this dance was here; the Lord is Aadavallanathar, master of the dance. Saraswati stands before the sanctum with a palm-leaf book and no veena. The village is the Talaiyalanganam of the Sangam poems, where the Pandya Nedunchezhiyan defeated the Chera and Chola kings together, and the Purananuru remembers him by that victory. The temple is small, without a rajagopuram, entered from the bund of the Sangu tirtham.
About 8 km east of Kudavasal, with Peruvelur 5–6 km further. From Panguni 30 to Chithirai 3 the rising sun falls on the linga.
