Once upon a time Tirumal did tapas(penance) towards Lord Shiva.  Appreciating Tirumal’s tapas , Lord Shiva asked him the boon that he wanted. Immediately  That He wishes to have Maya(nescience/illusion) which will make both devas(celestials) and asuras(demons) and also he should get such a power that he will not be destroyed by devas. Lord Shiva granted him the boons he asked for and called him Mayan. He disappeared after informing Tirumal that he will remain on the left side of his body. Tirumal who got such a boon appears as Parasakthi and Parvathi in female form and as Tirumal in male form, while in anger he gets the form of Kali and during the time of battle as Durga. Once Uma devi under took somavara vratham (religious vow on Mondays) in favour of Lord Shiva. On completion otf the vratham(religious vow), during Annadhanam(serving meals free) was taking place to see the effect her vratham Lord Shiva appeared in the form of an elderly Brahmin and Tirumal as a woman by the side of Lord Shiva came to the place where she did her penance and expressed their happiness. Then they showed her their original forms.

That is  Siva and Tirumal are not d ifferent from each other and Tirmal is siva sakthi. Right side of Lord Shiva is male and left side is female. Because of this He who was separated from Lord Shiva let us call him as Tirumal. How we should see such a person is  left side as one carrying in
his hands deer, axe(mazhu) as Shiva and left side with disc (chakram) in his hand as Tirumal.
Such a joint state is called sankara narayanan. With such a famous form with Kesavan as one half and he the Lord Shiva as the other half  is called Kesavartha Moorthi. This form can be seen at a place called Harharam. Here we are going to worship Sankara narayanan. Sankaran koil is situated on the way to Tirunelveli. The Lord here is called by the name Sankara narayana and his consort is Gomathi. By worshipping the God here diseases pertaining to bones and nerves will be cured. After recovering completely, small images of the affected such as hand, leg etc.,(prathimai as they are called in Tamil) are deposited in the Hundiyal kept in the temple. In front of the sannidhi of the godess, there is a pit (kuzhi in tamil)on the granite floor in round shape with 6 inches diameter. When one does mediation(dhyanam) sitting Here on it Kundalini(one of the seven chakras lying at the base of spine) gets attracted. Here the sand collected from snake pit(putru man0 as prasadam. By doing Bilvarchanai and offering neivethyam of sarkkarai pongal on Mondays and wednes days one will get liberation (mukthi/moksham in tamil)in the next birth. One should give  fried rice(pori) to the fishes in the pond here and jaggary for the elephant. By providing annadhanam(free food) to disabled persons and then if the god here is worshipped even chronic diseases will get cured.