The Lord of this shrine is believed to have emerged from an ocean of milk, since quite a Long time, he was being worshipped by Lord Brahma, and he asked the sun to carry on with the poojas as per vedic rules and regulations. Lord Rama who belonged to the dynasty of the sun was praying to the Almighty then, he was the one who gave away his ranganatha, in the form of a gift to Vibhishana as the latter had helped him when he was trying to save Sita from the clutches of Ravan, when she was kidnappe by him. After Lord Rama was crowned the king, in Ayodhya, Vibhishana was travelling back to Lanka, and he was exhausted and he decided to take rest for some time, and during this time, he kept the deity on the earth, later when he tried with all his might, he was unable to displace the deity from its place. Lord Perumal then told him that he wished to reside on the river banks of Cauvery; he told him that he would face Sri Lanka in a reclining form. King Dharma Chola was the one who erected this shrine later. The shrine started sinking inside the sand, because of which Emperor Valavan, who belonged to the Chola kingdom re built this shrine.