Kadavarkoman, a Pallava king, who ruled over Thondai Nadu, was a stanch devotee of Lord Siva. He constructed the temple of Kailasanatha in Kanchipuram entrusting the work to eminent sculptors and fixed up an auspicious date for celebrating Mahakumbabishekam in a grand manner and all the arrangements were in progress.

    At the same time there lived another devotee of Lord Siva, named Poosalar, in Thinnanoor, also called Tiruninravoor in the same Thondainadu. He had a noble desire to construct a temple for Lord Siva. He approached all philanthropic minded people for help but to no purpose. They only mocked at his tall aims. He was thoroughly disappointed and was unable to execute the plan. However, he did not give up his idea of erecting a temple for Lord Siva. Realizing that God dwells in the hearts of sincere devotees, as according to yogi's concept Body is the Temple and God dwells in the sanctum of their heart, he was convinced that Lord Siva was already installed in his heart and he conceived the idea of building a temple for the deity within him without the necessity of resources. He visualized before his mental eye all the stages in his plan of construction, one by one in proper order, and in no time, his temple was ready for Kumbahishekam. It was a rare coincidence that he also fixed the date for the Kumbabishekam of the temple of his imagination on the same date fixed by the Pallava King for the Mahakambahishekam of the Kailasanathar's temple in Kancheepuram.

    In these circumstances, Lord Siva appeared before the King in his dream and asked him to alter the date fixed by him for Kumbahishekam as He would like to grace the Kumbabishekam of Poosalar's temple on that date. The King was astonished by the undue importance given by the Lord to a poor devotee's small temple. He, however decided to submit to the Divine will and also wanted to witness the Kumbabhishekam of Poosalar's temple at Thiruninravur and have the darshan of Sri Poosalar, the great devotee. So he himself went to Tiruninravoor on that auspicious day to have darshan of the Kumbabhishekam. There was no temple and no sign of festivity at all. He enquired the residents who only laughed at and ridiculed Poosalar as insane in as much as he was always prating of Kumbahishekam without Constructing any temple. However, they guided the King to his residence.

    The King narrated to him all about his dream. Poosalar was deeply moved by the Lord's recognition of his sincere Devotion. He then explained to the King that he was Celebrating on that day the Kumbahishekam of the deity, Enthroned in the temple of his heart, as he was unable to Raise a structural temple for want of resources. Appreciating his sentiments, the King constructed a temple in Tiruninravoor where he celebrated the Kumbabishekam prior to that of the temple of Kanchi as commanded by Lord Siva. By this Tiruvilaiyadal of Lord Siva the greatness of Poosalar Nayanar Was made known to the world.

    The ancient temple of Kailasanatha is situated in the end of Kanchi. The presiding deity of this temple, Lord Kailasanatha, is in the form of a Lingam with 16 facial band. In this shrine, there is another lingam worshipped by Narada. The sculptural beauty of the churning of the milky-ocean and the idols of Bikshatanar, Gangadharar, Tirupuranatakar Somaskamidar, Vishnu, Durga, Dakshinamurthy, Parasakthi in manifold forms and Kalasamharamoorthy on the walls in and around the Garbhagriha is striking. These walls also protray the scenes of Lord Siva's consmic dance.

    While circumambulating the deity around the Garbhagriha, we have to negotiate a very narrow entrance and exit only by crawling. This unique circumambulation, called "Swargapradakshinam" is believed to confer liberation from rebirth.

    This temple is under the control of HR & CE Board of the Government of Tamilnadu and is protected as an ancient monument by the Archeological Department of the Government of India. Number of Pilgrims from all over the country and foreigners visit this temple everyday. Mahasivarathri festival is celebrated grandly at this temple.

    To the left of the road leading to this temple, there is a shrine called Anekathankavatham worshipped by Lord Vinayaka and sung by Sri Sundaramoorthy Swamigal.

To the south of this temple, there is the temple of Tirumetralinathar in Pillayarpalayam.

The temple of Sri Kailasanathar built by sand stone stands to-day as an ancient monument and a holy place of worship.

"SIVAYA NAMA OM, NAMAH SIVAYA"