As Markandeya grew, so did his devotion to Shiva. As advised by his father, Markandeya worshipped the Shiva Lingam at Tirukkadaiyur, even bringing water from the Ganges to the temple via an underground passage. On the day he was destined to die, Yama, the deity of death, appeared with his noose in his hand to tie around the soul of Markandeya and take it away with him. Markandeya sought refuge in the temple and embraced the Siva Lingam. Shiva appeared and warned Yama not to touch Markandeya, as he was under his protection. Yama refused to listen and threw the noose, binding around both Markandeya and the Lingam together. Angered by Yama's extraordinary arrogance, Shiva kicked and held him under his foot, thereby making him inactive. Markandeya was blessed by Shiva to remain sixteen years old eternally. Meanwhile, with Yama being rendered inactive, there were no deaths on earth, but people were still being born. Burdened by the weight of so many people and unable to sustain their hunger, the earth-goddess, Bhumi Devi, appealed to Shiva for help. Shiva, feeling compassionate for the earth-goddess, released Yama, allowing deaths to occur again. However, in order to remind Yama never to try again to kill any one who is worshiping Shiva, the icon of Shiva in this temple is depicted with his forefinger raised in warning about it. History There are several inscriptions in the temple belonging to the Medieval Cholas. On the southern wall in the central shrine, there is an inscription from the 13th year reign of the king, Rajaraja I Cholan, indicating stipulation of delivering paddy to the temple by a merchant in return to the land offered by the temple. Another inscription in the temple indicates the record (ARE 242 of 1925) of a gift of paddy to the temple by the king, Rajendra Chola, for conducting an eight-days temple festival annually. A third inscription on the same wall indicates a record dated to 1054 AD from the reign of the king, Rajadhiraja Chola informs about a gift of land by a devotee to feed 17 devotees. The fourth inscription (ARE 244 of 1925) in the shrine from the period of the king, Kulothunga Chola I, indicates that Mahasabha of Tirukadavur selling 1.74 velis of land that had been lying fallow for 50 years. Another interesting inscription from the outer precinct from the period of the king, Rajaraja