Nobody knows when exactly Narayana Guru left his hermitage in the Marutvamalai and came to a forest on the banks of the river Neyyar at Aruvipuram. In those days it was a thick forest full of wild animals and nobody dared to go there. It is possible that he spent a considerable time in a cave on the river bank until he was located by a young lad who was combing the forest in search of his cow that was missing. Although the boy promised the Guru not to tell anyone of his presence there, the news leaked out that a saint was living in the forest, Curiosity was aroused, and soon he became a center of attraction.