Palani temple is considered synonymous with Panchamritam, a delicious five-ingredient mixture.
Sage Narada visited Shiva's celestial court at Mount Kailash once to present him with a flower, the gyana-palam, which contained the elixir of wisdom in it. Upon Shiva expressing his intention to divide the fruit between his two sons, Ganesha and Murugan, the sage advised not to cut it. He wanted to award it to each of his two sons who originally toured the planet three times. Accepting the task, Karthikeya set off on his mount peacock on his journey around the globe.Nevertheless, they were circumambulated by Ganesha, who surmised the universe was no more than his ancestors, Shiva and Shakti combined. Pleased with the discernment of their son, Shiva gave Ganesha the seed. When Kartikeya came back he was angry to know that his efforts were in vain. He left Kailash and took up residence in South India, in the Palani hills. Karthikeya is thought to have felt the need to mature from boyhood, and thus chose to live as a hermit, discarding all of his robes and ornaments. He went into therapy to get to know himself.
Sage Bogar, one of the eighteen great siddhas of Hinduism from an amalgam of nine poisons or navapashanam, formed and consecrated the Muruga idole in Palani. The legend also argues that to complete its feature, the sculptor had to work very quickly and made it perfect. Later, some people who had access to the deity used hideous chemicals and robbed the contents of the idol to greatly damage the idol, and conspired theories that the sage did not sculpt the outer characteristics as well as the face.There is a shrine to Bhogar in the temple 's southwestern corridor, which is said, by tradition, to be linked by a tunnel to a cave in the heart of the hill where Bhogar continues to meditate and hold his vigil, with eight Muruga idols.
The deity idol is said to be made up of an amalgam of nine poisonous substances which, when combined in a certain ratio, forms an eternal medicine. It is set on a pedestal of stone, with an archway surrounding it, and represents the god Subrahmanya in the form He assumed at Palani-that of a very young recluse, shorn of its locks and all its finery, dressed in no more than a loincloth and armed only with a staff, the dhandam, as befits a monk.
The temple was reconsecrated by the Cheras, whose dominions lie to the west, and the guardian of the Kartikeya of Palani, whose eastern boundary was to be. Housed in the garbhagriham, the sanctum sanctorum of the temple, the deity can be approached and handled only by the priests of the temple, who are members of the Palani Gurukkal community, and hold hereditary rights of priestly worship in the temple. Other devotees are required to come up to the sanctum, while the assistants of the priests, usually from the Pandāram group, are permitted up to the sanctum sanctorum antechamber.
The temple is situated on the top of Palani 's two hills, known as the Sivagiri. Entry to it has historically been through the main staircase cut into the hill-side or through the route of the yanai-padhai or elephant, used by the ceremonial elephants. Pilgrims carrying water for the idol's ceremonial bathing, and the priests, will use another route still carved in the side of the hill but on the other side.