Malayadwaja Pandya, the King of Madurai, performed a yaga so that he would be blessed with a child. Pleased, Lord Siva appeared before him and granted him his wish, said Aaroor Sundararaman in a discourse. A little girl, about three years old, appeared from the sacrificial fire and the king and his queen Kanchanamala brought up the child. When Malayadwaja died, the foster daughter — Meenakshi — became the ruler of the kingdom.
Meenakshi waged war against many kings in order to find the man who was destined to be Her husband. Conquering one kingdom after another, Meenakshi advanced up to Mount Kailash, the abode of Lord Siva. Sensing that the Lord was Her chosen one, She followed His instructions and returned to Madurai. After the marriage, the sages said they would not eat unless Lord Siva danced for them. The Lord, who is Master of the Universe, agreed to grant them their wish, showing His appreciation of their sincere devotion.
But just as He bends down for the sake of His devotees, He also knows how to humble people. When Meenakshi told the Lord that only one thousandth of the food cooked for the wedding had been consumed, the Lord acknowledged that many of His people had not eaten. He then asked Gundotharan to eat what had been prepared for the wedding. Gundotharan not only ate up all the cooked food, but all the provisions too, and was still hungry! Then the Lord said to Meenakshi that while there was no food left, and nothing left to cook either, most of His men still remained unfed.
Thus the Lord showed His power to make even the most significant things insignificant. What had seemed like surplus food had become inadequate to satisfy the hunger of even one man.