Accroding to mythology , Attukal bhagavathy is supposed to be the divinised form of Kannaki.Kannaki is the famous heroine of chilapathikaram, written by Elenkovadikal.The story goes that after the destruction of anicient city of madurai in Tamil nadu, Kannaki left the city and reached kerala via kanniyakumari and on the way to kodungalloor took a sojourn at attukal.Kannaki is supposed to be the incarnation of Parvathy devi.