The temple's ancient Lingam statue and sculpture of Nandi, excavated in 1998 provide early examples of Pallava Hindu contributions to the island.
Unlike other Navagraha temples, the main deity, Agniswarar in the form of lingam depicts Lord Sukra.
It is believed that Lord Hanuman flew back to Rameswaram without the lingam from Himalaya and later a small lingam was installed and consecrated at Rameswaram that Lord Rama and Lady Sita used to worship Lord Shiva.
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The legend goes that Lord Hanuman, while flying back to the south, carrying shiva lingam from the Himalaya for being installed at Rameswaram, happened to see very beautiful lotus flowers (kamal-pushpa)in the region.
The temple dates back 700 to 800 years, when, according to legend, a brahmin dug into the ground and discovered a natural lingam, an emblem of Shiva.
Shiva stopped at a spot, now Thrissur, for his seat and later he and his party disappeared and Parashurama saw a bright and radiant Shiva linga at the foot of a huge banyan tree.
Wee Choo Keong was later referred to by V.K. Lingam in the Lingam tape.