LEGENDS AROUND MADURAI

Once Indra, the king of Devas, was burdened with the sin of Brahmahathi. To expiate the sin he did penance at various shrines. While traversing near the Kadamba forest of Madurai, he was suddenly purified. On further, search, he found a swayambu lingam under a Kadamba tree. He worshipped the deity with golden lotus flowers, built a vimannam over the deity and returned to Devaloka.

Later a merchant by name Dananjayan, who chanced to stay for a night near the shrine, found devote poojas being performed at the shrine and informed King Kulasekara Pandayan who ruled in Manavoor, of this incident. The King came to the forest and worshipped the Lord. It was he who built the proper temple and the city of Madurai that became the famous capital of the Pandyas.

After Kulasekara Pandyanm Malayadwaja Pandyan succeeded to the throne. As he had no children, he and his wife Kanchanamala performed a yagna to beget a child. They were astounded and worried when a three-year-old girl with three breasts appeared from the yagna-kundam. A divine voice consoled them telling that her third breast would disappear when she meets her husband. The child, Thadathagai, was brought up like a prince and she mastered all the arts of war.

Thadathagai succeeded the king and conquered the neighboring countries and reached Kailas itself, the abode of Lord Siva. But on the battlefield when her eyes met the gaze of the Siva, her third breast disappeared. She realized she had met her Lord. Lord Siva came to Madurai; married Thadathagai and they ruled Madurai for a time. Then, after, making their son Ugra Pandyanm an incarnation of Muruga, as the King, they assumed the divine forms, as Sundareswarar and Meenakshi.