Legend has it that many years ago; people of the village had noticed that cows were satisfying their thirst by drinking water from the same exact place of the river. Herders would lead the cows to the meadow, so that they could graze there. After they grazed there, they would be led to the sheds at dusk after the sun would set.The herders would milk the cows and the collected milk was given to their owners. One cow, out of the rest used to never allow the cowherd and even her own calf to draw or drink her milk. Many years ago, the Dhandanyakkan forest was called 'Bannari' which originated from the divine temple – 'The Bannari Amman Devi Shrine. The herder decided to keep a watch on the special cow. He led the cows to the meadows so that they could graze, and kept an eye on the special cow secretly. The cow wandered for some time, found a tall deciduous tree and stood under it. Milk started dripping from her udder, suddenly. The cowherd, amazed at this site, informed the other herders of the village about the same.All the people of the village came to know about what had happened and the entire village arrived there to see what was going on. They saw the cow exhibiting the exact behaviour; milk trickled from her udder and fell on that particular spot in the grass. The villagers were able to get rid of the grass and were amazed to find a hill, made of sand and a Swayambu Linga there.The Linga was considered holy and therefore they felt that, that exact spot under that deciduous was of heavenly importance, and therefore they appealed before the Linga. Out of the several devotees who had gathere there, one went into a hypnotic state, in which he passed on the message of the Deity to everybody. He said that the idol protected the traders of the state of Tamil Nadu who used that route to reach Mysore, they used cows, as a medium of transporting their goods, that were then, sold there. The deity was awestruck upon seeing how beautiful the place was and she resolved to reside there and bless the people of the village, she also wished for a shrine to be erected there allowing the villagers from near and far lands to visit the shrine, and she could bless them. This story tells us how the town of Bannari came to be an enduring home to the Goddess.