STORY OF VIRABHADRAR

Lord Brahma had a son by the name of Daksha, and Godess Shakti appeared as Dakshayani, the daughter of Daksha. Godess Shakti prayed to Lord Shiva to get married to her, and the Lord accepted Dakshayani ignoring the ostentation of Daksha.

Daksha felt very insulted since the Lord did not get married to his daughter with his special arrangements. He decided to retaliate by arranging a yagya in which all the Gods were worshipped except for Lord Shiva. All the Devas went to attend this yagya out of sheer fear, and accepted the offerings made to them on the occasion..

Since this was a very high handed behaviour on the part of Daksha , he was advised by the great sage DadhIchi to not perpetuate such a yagya where Lord Shiva was being totally ignored since this could lead to serious consequences. However, Daksha chose to ignore this good and sound piece of advice which had been given to him, and continued his Yagya as per previous plans made by him .

On learning of this Dakshayani came to the yagya to advise her father Daksha to refrain from such practises , and to also make offerings to the Lord of gods, her husband Lord Shiva. But Daksha again ignored her advice and in fact went on to make allegations against both her and Lord Shiva. As was to be expected, this elicited a very angry response from Daksha's daughter, and she prayed to the Lord to teach Daksha a lesson .She also ventured to leave the form of Dakshayani, and entered into the yagya fire taking on the form of the daughter of king of Himalayas.

Lord Shiva also took immediate action by the creation of VIra Bhadrar and Bhadra Kali ( Vira Bhadrar is the only deity among the 25 maheshwara murtis, to have the characteristic of not being the manifestation of Lord Shiva Himself, but a power of Lord Shiva). Lord Shiva advised them to destroy the yagya of Daksha, and they virtually charged into the place where the yagya was being performed , immediately mutilating the Devas taking part in the worship, and also cut off the head of Daksha, becoming such a powerful force that nobody could bring a halt to their activities.

Lord Vishnu also came on the scene and put up a brave front, but could not stop these deadly powers, resulting in the Devas gathered there pleading for mercy from Lord Shiva, which he generously agreed to, and after forgiving them on their specific request also went on to give back life to Daksha by affixing the head of a goat on his body, thereby bringing him back to life.. Daksha was then filled with remorse and repented for his sins. Even today you can see the temple of Thirup Pariyalur which stands as a testimony to the destruction of the Daksha Yagyam.