Lord Brahma, the Creator had five heads and therefore he considered himself to be superior to Lord Shiva. Once when he went to Kailasa, he disrespected Lord Shiva. To teach him a lesson, Lord Shiva plucked off one of the head of Brahma and made the skull (kapala) into his begging bowl. Lord Brahma realized his mistake and undertook severe penance to atone for his mistake in a place called Shukra-puri (Shukracharya performed penance here and regained his lost eye) or Veda-puri (Vedas worshipped Lord Shiva here). Brahma installed a Shiva-linga over there and named it “Kapaleeswara.”
Parvati once asked Lord Shiva to explain to her the importance of the “Shiva Panchakshara”: Na Ma Si Va Ya which can be spelt in the reverse order also as Si Va Ya Na Ma! The Lord started explaining to her the significance of the mantra. However, Parvati’s attention got diverted to a flock of peacocks dancing beautifully. Her mind got carried away. Shiva was annoyed at her attitude and cursed her to become a peahen. She was ordered to go down to bhu-loka and perform tapas to redeem herself of the curse. Parvati came to Veda-puri and performed severe penance in the form of a pea-hen under a Punnai tree. After years of penance, Lord Shiva granted her darshan and she regained back her original form. The place became known as Mayura-puri (Mayura means peacock). Later the place came to be known as Mylapore, in Chennai.
Parvati after regaining her most beautiful and enchanting form decided to make Mayura-puri her abode along with Sri Kapaleeswara for the sake of devotees. She is known as Karpagambal (Karpagam: Wish-yielding tree and Amba: Mother). She stands there to fulfill all the wishes of her devotees. Lord Karthikeya prayed to Sri Karpagambal over here before fighting with Surapadma, and she blessed him and gave the sacred Sakti-Vel to him.
Sivanesa Chettiar was a wealthy tradesman residing in Mylapore. He was also a great devotee of Lord Shiva. He had a beautiful daughter by name Poompavai. One day while plucking flowers in the garden she died by a snake bite. The grieving father collected the ashes of her dead body and preserved it in a pot and waited for the great Saint Thirugnanasambandhar to come to Mylapore. When the Saint came to Mylapore, Chettiar met Thirugnanasambandhar and told him of his daughter’s demise. He pleaded with him to restore her back to life.
Thirugnanasambandhar prayed to Lord Kapaleeswara and Devi Karpagambal. Thirugnanasambandhar addressed the pot of ashes, “O Poompavai! The very purpose of human birth in this world is to be of service to the Lord and his devotees, and to witness the grand utsavam of Lord Kapaleeswara. If this be true, arise in the presence of all. Do you want to go away without witnessing the Lord’s utsavam?” The great Saint then sang the glories of the Lord and when he had just completed the tenth verse, Poompavai rose up from the ashes as though she had woken up from sleep! Everyone gathered there were overwhelmed at the grace of Lord Kapaleeswara and Sri Karpagambal and the greatness of Thirugnanasambandhar.
“O Devi Karpagambika, residing in the sacred kshetra of Mayil-puri (Mylapore)! You are the embodiment of Sat-Chit-Ananda! Pray, cast your divine compassionate glance on thy devotee!”
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