King Solan was ruling the area of Woraiyur. A saint called Saarama lived there. Next to a temple dedicated to Lord Shiva he had made a beautiful flower garden. Daily he used to pluck its flowers and offer them to Lord Thayumanavar, an aspect of Lord Shiva. One day he found out that someone was stealing flowers from the garden. He caught the robber who finally confessed that he was acting on the King's orders. The King had personally told him to go daily to his garden, pluck its nicest flowers and bring them back to the palace.

T he saint felt that it was useless to argue with the King and he returned to the temple where he confided his grievance to Lord Shiva in prayer. Hearing his story, Shiva became so furious that he turned the orientation of the temple from East to West. Sparks of fire were coming out of his eyes and a shower of hot sand fell on Woraiyur. All the inhabitants of the kingdom ran away full of fear. Houses, buildings, palaces and towers were falling down as if absorbed by the earth. All started praying to the Divine Mother to save their lives and restore peace in the country. Buvanamadevi, the King's wife, was also a great devotee of the Divine Mother. Without the King's knowledge, she offered the flowers given by her husband for her hair to the Divine Mother. She kept only the remaining flowers for herself. The Divine Mother was very pleased by this attitude. In order to save her and the devotees who prayed to her with so much fervor, the Divine Mother appeared to Lord Shiva in the form of Vekkali to calm down his anger and save the kingdom from total devastation. As soon as Vekkali appeared to Shiva, he knew why she had come. His anger vanished and the shower of sand stopped. People came back to Woraiyur and started building their roofs again. To protect the people, Vekkali Amman stayed where she had appeared to Shiva. She made the vow that she didn't want a roof for herself as long as everyone in the Kingdom could not live under a proper ceiling. For the sake of her devotees, she braved the weather and stood under the open sky facing the rain and the sun, the cold and misty days.