Once upon a time there lived a Namboodiri Brahmin boy in a village in Kerala. He had heard from his parents that his life would be very short.

While his birth had been a gift of the gods, being a result of much prayer and good works that his parents performed for him, learned astrologers predicted at his birth that he would die of a snake-bite in his twentieth year.

Now the boy himself was a very resourceful person. He knew that an evil destiny could be averted by prayer and good works. He decided to try his best to conquer the evil power of the stars by living a life of devotion.

From North Malabar, he travelled down to Central Travancore to the famous Aranmula Temple and prayed to the deity there. However, he did not fail to pray in a large number of other temples on the way. But the Aranmula god was specially chosen by him because of his great power. He remained there for a number of days, daily offering prayers to the god.

On the forty-first day he had a vision. He saw a messenger of god, who told him that he should pray to Lord Siva. He was to go to the temple of Siva, in South Travancore, at a place known as Kottarakara, and continue his devotions there.

Accordingly, he went to Kottarakara and regularly offered his prayers there to the Lord Siva. After forty days had passed, a great incident occurred.

When he was going to bathe in the temple pool a serpent suddenly appeared out of nowhere and tried to bite him as he came out of the pool. But the young man concentrated his mind on god, and prayed for deliverance. Suddenly a big kite appeared and carried the serpent away.

The young man offered his praises to the god Siva for his deliverance. He returned home and told his parents the happy news and their joy knew no bounds.

But he himself was not satisfied. He went again to Kottarakara and repaired the temple there, building a fine cow-house in that compound, made almost entirely of granite. Even the roof is paved with granite stones. It still stands there, as a lasting monument of his gratitude to the Lord Siva.

A Folktale sourced from Folk Tales of Kerala by K Jacob.

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