Sundaranatha, who has the blessings of Nandi, leaves Kailasa, to visit his friend sage Agastya, who is in Podhigai hills. Sekkizhar, in his Peria Puranam, gives a list of the temples Sundaranatha visits on his way to meet Agastya, said R. Narayanan in a discourse.
He worships Lord Siva at Kedar, Lord Pasupati in Nepal, and Viswanatha of Varanasi. Then he comes to Srisailam, where the hill is in the shape of Nandi, and from there he comes to Kalahasti, and to Thiruvalangadu. He then reaches Thiruvannamalai, and goes to Kanchi, the city surrounded by high walls. In this city, he takes the blessings of the many Saivites who live there, and then goes to Thiruvadigai, where Siva has the name of Veerattaneswarar, to mark eight miraculous deeds of His. Then he reaches Chidambaram, Kaveripoompattinam and Tiruvaduturai, where Goddess Uma did penance.
Walking along the banks of the Cauvery river, through a jungle, he finds a herd of cows wailing. He discovers the reason for their sorrow. The cowherd, Moolan, is dead, and the cows are licking him and shedding tears. Taking pity on the cows, Sundaranatha decides to console them. The only thing that will stop the cows crying is the revival of Moolan. Sundaranatha is master of the ashtamasiddhis, one of which is the ability to quit one’s own body and enter another’s at will. So Sundaranatha leaves his body, and enters Moolan’s body. Seeing Moolan come back to life, the cows are overjoyed. Sundaranatha now hides his own body and after grazing the cows, he follows them to the village of Sathanur, which is where they are from.
Later, Sundaranatha finds that his body, which he had hidden has gone missing. So, he continues to inhabit Moolan’s body. Sundaranatha who becomes Moolan, was to become famous as the Nayanmar Thirumoolar.
