Agni, after devouring clarified butter uninterrupted for twelve years from Swetaki's Yagja, suffered a stomach ailment.

Grateful, Agni, expressed his wish to install Arca moorthy in a new temple there to facilitate worship.

As instructed by Sri Krishna, Arjuna fired an arrow to determine an auspicious location for the proposed temple.

Bhoothanathaswamy( Kiratha Murthy form of Lord Shiva) and Yakshi Amma ( Devi Parvathy) were consecrated as the Sub Deities.

The remains of burned trees in the locality and names of nearby places, Karippuzha (kari means char), Pathiyoor (corruption of Kathiya Oor-place that burnt), Pandavarkavu, Mannarasala, Kannamangalam (Kanva-Mangalam Kanva's abode) agree with the account.

[3][4] About one and a half century ago the temple burnt when the sanctum santorum caught fire.