Kannapa, a tribalhunter, was a devoted follower of Lord Siva and one of the 63 Nayanars. Once when he offered meat to a Siva linga, a priest at the temple objected to that practice. The Lord wanted to test the extent of Kannapa's devotion. Blood issued from the right side of the Linga. Kannapa tried to treat it with herbs but failed. So he gauged out his right eye and placed the eye to cover the bleeding. Then the left eye of the linga began to bleed. He was about to gauge out his left eye when he was stopped by Siva, who took him, placed him on his right side and granted mukti.
The famed Kalahasti temple, located near the renowned Tirupati temple is the site of this incident.
Kannappa found that one of the eyes painted on the Shiva Linga was bleeding which prompted Kannappa to try and "treat" it with herbs but he failed and the bleeding continued.
Desperate to treat Shiva's eye, Kannappa gouged out one of his eyeballs and placed it on the bleeding eye on the Linga and the bleeding stopped immediately.
Without hesitation he decided to gouge out his second eye but since without either of his eyes he would not be able to find out where to place the gouged eyeball, he placed his large toe on the bleeding eye of the Linga and put an arrow to his second eye.
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