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ledged for it. It is not found in the different mahātmyas and legendary accounts of Cidambaram. Nor is a Cihdmbarasāra known to us. And we may suspect that it is in fact an independent text asserting its subordination to the literature devoted to the glorification of the holy place. It is very short. What we have consists in 31 anustubh verses We suspect that there is a lacuna in the unique manuscript, as we shall see below.
It narrates the following story. A teacher explains to his disciples the story of a matha situated outside the temple of Cidambaram, to the South-East of it. There were in Cidambaram Trisahasra brahmins who followed the cult of Națesa and won fame for their generosity in giving food to all. Durvāsas, the irascible sage, wants to test it. He goes to Tilvaranya when everybody is asleep. He approaches the linga worshipped by Seșa and asks three times for bhikṣā. No woman comes to give him food, because of sleep. He gets angry and begins to say some derogatory sentences about Tilvaraṇya. At that moment Nrttaganapati thinks of his mother...
Here there must be a lacuna in the manuscript, because without continuity, we come to a scene in which Durvāsas receives the desired bhikṣā, recognizes Gauri and worships her. It implies that in the gap Gauri had appeared for some reason determined by Ganapati. Then it is told that Gauri addresses Durvāsas, asking him to instal in this place his disciple, as a naişthikabrahmacārin, with the name Aghoraśiva, so that he will give dik şā to śūdra devotees. At the behest of Gauri Durvāsas builds a residence and with the necessary preparations performs the pattabhişeka of Aghoraśiva. Then he brings his disciple in the citsabha, accomplishes different worships of the god in front of Trisahasra brahmins. Then he returns to the house, instals a linga and asks Aghoraśiva to worship it and, after studying the dgamas, to establish the rule of linga mūrtis and sakti worship, the rules of different dikşās for twice-borns and for sūdras. Aghoraśiva obeỳs the order of his guru and composes the Kriyakramadyotikā.
An important detail is the mention of the date of the abhişeka. The details of the date are given is : śrimukha year, śuklapakşa, pusyanakṣatra, 5th tithi, vaisakha month, Thursday. In Swami
