Parvathi, Ambika, Tripurasundari, Kamakshi, Visalakshi, Durga, Adi Parasakthi — many are the names Lord Siva’s Consort is known by, said M.A. Manickavelu, in a discourse. Lalitha Sahasranama gives us thousand names of the Goddess. Each devotee may have a favourite name by which he addresses Her and prays to Her. No matter by what name Her devotees call out to Her, She is always there for them. She even helps when we have not explicitly asked Her for assistance, for She knows our needs.
There is a story about an old woman who went to have darshan of the Goddess in Kanyakumari. It was dark, and she did not know the way. Ambika came in the form of a little girl bearing a lamp, and guided the old woman. Kamban who wrote Kamba Ramayanam and Ottakoothar who wrote Thakka Yaga parani, would write at night. Ambika would hold a lamp, in whose light they would write.
The Nayanmar Sundarar married Sangili Nachiar in Thiruvottriyur, under a Magizha tree (Mimusops elengi), with Lord Siva as witness to the marriage. Sundarar promised Sangili that he would never be separated from her. But he wanted to have darshan of the deity of Thiruvarur — Tyagarajaswami. So he broke his promise to her, and as a result he lost his eyesight. But his bhakti towards Lord Siva and his attachment to the Lord were legendary. Neither the Lord nor His consort would let him down. He had been punished for not keeping his word to Sangili Nachiar, but he was not totally forsaken by the Lord or the Goddess.
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From Thiruvottriyur to Thiruvenpakkam, near Kanchipuram, the Goddess of Thiruvenpakkam, known as Minnal Oli Ambikai, guided Sundarar. He regained vision in his left eye in the Ekambareswara temple in Kanchi, and then proceeded to Thiruvarur, where he got back his vision in the other eye too.