shlokam:

The body smeared with ash, moon on the head, ornated by gangA, snakes, axe and deer, Pure, sitting comfortably in vIrAsanam, with the left palm over the right, in the posture of a yOgi, wearing the skin of a tiger, burning the cupid with the fire emerging from the eye in the forehead, to You salutations.

Description of the deity:

kAma ari : one who is the enemy of cupid.(vIra mUrti)

When Shakthi became pArvati, daughter of the king of Himalayas, She was doing thapas for Lord Shiva. (1) At the same time the great sages, the four sons of Brahma,sanakar, sana.ndanar, sanAtanar, sanat kumArar came to Lord Shiva for enlightenment. The Lord gave them enlightenment in the form of Lord dakshiNA mUrti.(2) As the Duo, Who are the cause as well as the energy for the whole world are into yoga, the whole world got more inclined to yoga and life sustenance was in trouble. Meanwhile the dEvas, who were tortured by the sUrapadma and his brothers tAraka, simhamukha, knew that those demons can be killed only by the son of Lord Shiva and Shakthi. Disappointed that both God and Goddess were doing yoga instead of marrying, they asked the cupid to disturb the meditating Lord Shiva with his arrows in order to induce lust for pArvati. When desperation sets in, reasoning gets pushed down. Can the Supreme be induced with lust by anybody ? The cupid refused since he knew that it will be just fatal for him. But the other dEvAs threatened to curse him if he didn't obey. Saying that it is better to be killed by the God of gods than by the curses of dEvAs, he went with his wife, rati, to the abode of Shiva where He was in meditation.

The cupid shot the flower arrow on the Lord. The next moment the fire from the eye in the forehead of the Lord burnt the cupid. Undisturbed He continued His meditation. The cupid is of the reputation that his arrows never fail. But well, it can apply to others, can it be for the Almighty ? His arrows were useless in front of the Lord and he too became just a heap of ash ! Shocked by the death of cupid all the dEvAs realized their plots would not work out with God. They understood that only sincerity could get the showers of Its grace and any other pressure can just not mount over God. They surrendered themselves in front of the Lord and pleaded for mercy. The Lord forgave them and married pArvati and gave subrahmaNya for the destruction of the demons. On their request He also bring back to life kAma, however he would be visible only to his wife and not to others. Because of this reason kAmadeva is called ananga (one without limbs).

thiruk kuRikkai is the temple associated with the burning of god of lust.

See Also:

1. Holi Festival
2. pArvati's tapas & wedding
3. dakshiNa Murthi 

 

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The Forms of Lord Shiva