Brahma ji and Vishnu ji were arguing about which of them was greater. A column of fire came up between them and a voice said: whoever finds the end of it wins.
Vishnu ji took the form of a boar and went down. Brahma ji took the form of a swan and went up. Neither found anything. Vishnu ji came back and said so; Brahma ji came back and said he had found the top.
Shiv ji stepped out of the column. Vishnu ji, who had admitted it, was blessed; Brahma ji, who had not, was told he would have no temple of his own.
The hill at Thiruvannamalai is that column, cooled. On Karthigai the fire is lit at the top of it and every house in the south answers with rows of its own.
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