The Siddhar Pattinaththaar and his disciple Paththirakiriyaar wandered through the country.
        Paththirakiiriyaar was an earstwhile king, who had become Pattinathaar's disciple.
He cast away his kingdom and everything except for a loin cloth that he was wearing.
        After several years of wandering around, they came to Thiruvidaimarudhur.
        They arrived at the east gate of the temple of Idaimarudhiisvarar, otherwise known
as MadhyArjunEsvaram.
        Pattinaththaar told his disciple, "It would be difficult for both of us to sit in the same
place and beg for food. You go to the west gate. I will be here at the east gate".

        So Paththirakiriyaar went forth to the west gate and sat there.

        Everyday, he would beg around for food. He would bring whatever he got, to Pattinaththaar. He would give the food to Pattinaththaar and would eat only whatever
remained after Pattinaththaar had eaten.        
        This was a custom among some Guru-Sishya lineages.
        The left-overs from the food of the guru is known as 'Guru-sEsham'.
        By and large, a small female puppy came to Paththirakiriyaar and followed him
around. So Paththirakiriyaar fed the pup also.
        Paththirakiriyaar soon found that he could not hold in both his palms, all the food
for all the three of them - Pattinaththaar, Paththirakiriyaar, and the dog.
        So he went to a potter and begged from him a begging bowl called 'Odu'.
        After that, he could easily beg for food for the three of them. Whatever remained
after the three had eaten, he would safely keep for the night.

        One day, a man came along to the east gate and asked Pattinaththar for some food
saying that he was very very hungry.
        Pattinaththaar replied that he was a mendicant and an ascetic who does even beg for
his own food.        
        "But there is a samsaari - a householder in the west gate. He would be able to feed
you. Go there and ask him" he told the stranger.

        The man went to the west gate and saw Paththirakiriyaar. He asked for food. Paththirakiriyaar was surprised. He asked the man why he chose to ask him particularly
for food.
        The man replied, "There is a yogi at the east gate. He said that there is a samsaari
at the west gate who would give me food. You must be the samsaari".
        Paththirakiriyaar immediately realised that it was because of his possessions - the dog
and the Odu - that he became a samsaari.
        After all, he was once a great king who cast away all his richness, power, family, kingship, country, army, comfort, cares,....everything.
        Now again.......
        The attachements!
        At that instant, a realisation struck him.
        He took the Odu and smashed it upon the head of the bitch. The pot broke and the
dog died.
        The stranger, then vanished.

        But the spirit of the bitch underwent a transmigration of soul and was born as the
only daughter of the King of Kasi. This was because the dog had been cared for by a
siddhar had been fed by him. This had accrued as excellent karma for the dog. That
karmic effect gave the dog the reincarnation as a Princess of the Holiest Place of the
Hindus - Kasi.

        Twelve years passed by.

        The Princess who was the pet of Paththirakiriyaar retained the memories of her
master in her former birth.
        In those days, girls got married when they were twelve years old.
        The king of Kasi tried to get a handsome prince for her.
        But the princess refused and told her royal father that she was reared by a great
sage in her previous birth. Because of eating the food which was left-over from such
a great siddhar, she was given the high birth of a princess. Therefore, she belonged
to the siddhar.

        So the king of Kasi and the princess came to Thiruvidaimarudhur.

        The princess went to the west gate and fell at the feet of Paththirakiriyaar.
        She told her story and asked him to take her as his wife or slave.
        Paththirakiriyaar refused. Thereupon, the princess told him that she would commit
suicide if she was rejected by Paththiragiriyar.
        Paththirakiriyaar was in a quandary. If he married her, he would become a real
samsaari. But if he refused the marriage, the girl would commit suicide and thus he
would incur the great sin of 'sthri haththi dhosham' - the sin of killing a woman.
        Exasperated and frustrated, he ran into the temple and fled straight to the central
shrine, screaming along the way, "Enough...enough is enough!"
        The girl screamed, "Don't forsake me Swami!" and followed him. The king also
ran after his only daughter.

        Suddenly there was a flash of brilliant light and Paththirakiriyaar went into it.
        The princess followed Paththirakiriyaar and the king also went after them.
        The flash swallowed all the three of them and it also disappeared.

        Pattinaththar heard about all this and heaved a forlorn sigh.
        He uttered, "He who came after, has gone first".