The main deity, Kamakshi, is seated in a majestic, posture signifying peace and prosperity, instead of the traditional standing pose.
The goddess holds a sugarcane bow and bunch of flowers in the lower two of her arms and has a pasha ( lasso) , an ankusha ( goad) in her upper two arms. There is also a parrot perched near the flower bunch. There are no other Parvati temples in the city of Kanchipuram, apart from this temple, which is unusual in a traditional city that has hundreds of traditional temples. There are various legends that account for this fact. One of them according to Kamakshivilasa is that the Goddess had to absorb all the other shakthi forms to give a boon to kama, the Hindu god of love.Another legend attributes it to the Raja Rajeswari pose of the deity that signifies an absolute control over the land under the deity’s control.
Legend has it that Kamakshi offered worship to a Shivalingam made out of sand, under a mango tree and gained Shiva’s hand in marriage.