As per Hindu legend, Murugan fought with demons in three places, namely, the sea at Tiruchendur, land at Thirupparankundram and in air at Thiruporur.

Since Muruga won over Tharuka asuran, this place came to be Porur (por in Tamil means war) and also called by other names like Tharukapuri and Samarapuri.

A sage named Chidambara Adigal was residing in Madurai and a divine voice asked him to unearth the statue under a palm tree.

[2] An effort was made to dig up a room in the temple by archaeologists during 2013, which yielded only items used during rituals and not any archaeological artifact.

[3] During 2013, as many as 36 acres (15 ha) belonging to the temple located at Thandalam that was leased earlier, was recovered from the land grabbers.

[2] In modern times, the temple is maintained and administered by the Hindu religious and charitable endowments Board of the Government of Tamil Nadu.

[4] The temple is located in Thiruporur, in Old Mahabalipuram Road, 28 km (17 mi) from Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu.

Bala deva raya has mentioned Kandaswamy as "Samara puri vaazh Shan mugatthu arase" in his works in Kanda Shasti Kavasam.