king orders Banabathirar to compete against Bhagavathar. Knowing that he cannot win, the troubled Banabathirar prays to Shiva—who appears outside Bhagavathar's house in the form of a firewood vendor the night before the competition, and shatters his arrogance by singing "Paattum Naane". Shiva introduces himself to Bhagavathar as Banabathirar's student. Sheepish at hearing this, Bhagavathar leaves the kingdom immediately and leaves a letter for Shiva to give to Banabathirar. Shiva gives the letter to Banabathirar, and reveals his true identity; Banabathirar thanks him for his help. After listening to the stories, Muruga realises that this too was one of Shiva's divine games to test his patience; he then reconciles with his family. The film ends with Avvaiyar singing "Vaasi Vaasi" and "Ondraanavan Uruvil", in praise of Shiva and Parvati. Cast Lead actors Sivaji Ganesan as Shiva Savitri as Parvati, Sati, Kayarkanni, Kamakshi and Kaliamman K. B. Sundarambal as Avvaiyar T. S. Balaiah as Hemanatha Bhagavathar R. Muthuraman as Shenbagapandian Nagesh as Dharumi O. A. K. Thevar as Daksha A. Karunanidhi as Sovai T. R. Mahalingam as Banabathirar A. P. Nagarajan as Nakkeerar K. Sarangapani as Kayarkanni's father E. R. Sahadevan as Pandya King Varagunapandiyan Devika as Shenbagapandian's wife Manorama as Ponni G. Sakunthala as Banabathirar's wife Production Development In 1965, after the critical and commercial success of Navarathri (1964), its director A. P. Nagarajan and producer A. M. Shahul Hameed came together to make a film entitled Siva-Leela, later retitled Thiruvilaiyadal. It was inspired by the Thiruvilaiyadal Puranam, a collection of sixty-four 16th-century Shaivite devotional epic stories by Paranjothi Munivar which describe the actions (and antics) of Shiva on Earth in a number of disguises to test his devotees. Four of the Thiruvilaiyadal Puranam stories are depicted in the film, including the story where the Tamil poet Nakkeerar confronts Shiva over an error in his poem, exaggerating his sensitivity to right and wrong. Nagarajan had previously used this story as a play within a film in K. Somu's Naan Petra Selvam (1956). In addition to directing, Nagarajan co-produced Thiruvilaiyadal under the banner of Sri Vijayalakshmi Pictures, and wrote the screenplay. M. N. Rajan and T. R. Natarajan edited Thiruvilaiyadal; K. S. Prasad and Ganga were the film's cinematographer and art director respectively. Sivaji Ganesan was cast as Shiva, and Savitri as the goddess Parvati. R. Rangasamy did the make-up for Ganesan, and Savitri was given green make-up to portray her