01Emerald and the fly
Ee is a fly in Tamil, and the hill’s name keeps the temple’s katha that Maharshi Agastya took that small form to reach the Lord here. Maragatham is emerald: when Adisesha and Vayu fought around Meru, the temple says, gems were flung across the land, and the emeralds fell on this hill, as rubies fell at Vatpokki across the river. The linga is said to show a green sheen when the lamps are waved. About five hundred steps climb the bare hill, with a Kongu-style stone lamp pillar and a shrine of the siddha Bhogar at the foot. Swami and Ambal have separate vimanas and flagstaffs. Sambandar sang the hill, and Nakkirar’s Tiruveengoimalai Ezhupathu, seventy verses, is in the eleventh Tirumurai.
On the north bank opposite Kulithalai, reached from Kulithalai or Musiri. Many devotees do Kadambanthurai in the morning, Vatpokki at noon and this hill in the evening, the same day, best on a Karthigai Monday. Carry water; the steps have little shade.
