The temple is a well known pilgrim spot. The structure and architecture are specimens of ancient Indian excellence in this field. There are 99 courtyards or Parakrams in the complex and 7-tiered gopurams near the walls. "Sattainathar", the name of the shrine signifies the dominance of Shiva over the three realms, or the worlds. When Shiva showed this power and broke the arrogance of Vishnu, he got the name. Even the town was earlier called Sattainathapuram, the name coming from the lord. However, now Sattainathapuram is just a suburb in Sirkazhi.

In the 7th century CE, lived a poet-saint called Tirugnana Champantar. He was a Saiva or a devotee of Shiva. Among the Shaiva bhakti poets who lived in and around the century, he was the most well-known and proficient of all. It is said that Goddess Parvati herself fed him at her breast here in this temple when he was three years old. Blessed by the Goddess herself, he started singing holy hymns called Tevaram, commencing with a hymn or song called Todudaiya Seviyan. Even Sankaracharya has said this to be true because the child was gifted with divine milk and thus was blessed.

At the Sirkazhi Sattainathar Shiva Temple, a ten day festival is observed during the Tamil month called Chithirai. It happens during April or May. On a daily basis, six rituals are performed every day. The names of these are Ushathkalam, Kalasanthi, Uchikalam, Sayarakshai, Irandamkalam and lastly Ardha Janam. Each ritual takes place at each time of the day starting from Ushathkalam in the morning to Ardha Janam in the night. Weekly rituals like Somvaram or Shukravaram and monthly celebrations like Amavasya and Poornima are also observed. The other temples that can be visited in Nagapattanam are Vedaranyeswarar Temple which is situated at Vedaranyam, Saraswathi Temple at Koothanur and Ettukudi Murugan Temple. Every temple has interesting mythologies attached to it.