According to Hindu legend, in order to answer the prayers of the second Pandya king Malayadwaja Pandya and his wife Kanchanamalai, Goddess Parvati appeared out of the Holy Fire of the Putra Kameshti Yagna performed by the king. According to another legend, the goddess herself had given a boon to Kanchanamalai in one of her previous births that she will have the privilege of mothering the goddess. This girl, who came out of the holy fire, had three breasts, to the king's shock. A voice from the heavens told him not to worry and added that the third breast would vanish as soon as the girl meets her future husband. The happy king named the girl as 'Tadaatagai' and brought her up. The girl did not have any realization of her birth and she grew up as a normal human girl. Being the heir to the throne after Malayadwaja, Tadaatagai was trained carefully in all the 64 sastras (fields of sciences), which includes warfare, too. As the time came when Tadaatagai should be coronate, according to the customs, she had to wage war on the three worlds across eight directions (Digvijayam). After conquering Satyaloka (Lord Brahma's Abode), Vaikuntha (Lord Vishnu's Abode) and Amaravati (the Divine Abode of the Devas), she advanced to Kailasha (Lord Siva's Abode). She very easily defeated the Bhoota ganas and Nandoi (the celestial bull of Lord Siva) and headed to attack and conquers Siva. No sooner than she looked at Lord Siva, she was unable to fight and bowed her head down due to shyness; the third breast vanished immediately. Tadaatagai realized the reason and understood that Lord Siva is her destined husband. She also realized that she was the incarnation of Goddess Parvati. Both Lord Siva and Tadaathagai return to Madurai Madurai
