The Life
In a former birth a spider dwelt near a lingam beneath a jambu tree and daily spun a canopy of web to shield the Lord from falling leaves; a devout white elephant, worshipping there, washed the web away as though it were defilement. In their competing zeal each undid the other's service, until the spider, biting the elephant's trunk, perished along with it. For its love the spider was reborn as a Chola prince, born with red eyes from lingering in the womb, and so named Kochengat Cholan, 'the red-eyed Chola.' Remembering his old enmity, the king built the great temple at Thiruvanaikaval with a sanctum so narrow no elephant could enter, and raised, tradition says, seventy 'madakkovil' Shiva temples along the Kaveri. His lifelong temple-building devotion numbers him among the Nayanmars.