The Colas c35.19

c35.19

The Nāgēśvara at Kumbakonam (Pl. III fig. 6), though its appreciation has become difficult by the too close proximity of a number of later structures, shares all the main features of Tirukkaṭṭaḷai; specially notable here are the *ardhanārī* figure at the back of the *garbhagṛha* and the number of fine portrait figures in the recesses and niches of the *ardhamaṇḍapa* and the tableux of Rāmāyaṇa scenes beneath the pilasters of the same *maṇḍapa*, which will call for further discussion under sculpture; the top members of the *vimāna* above the third tier are now finished in stucco though originally they must have been of stone. The presence of four lion-pillars built into later sub-shrines shows that the sanctity of the site goes back to the Pallava period. A shrine of Gaṇeśa in the s.-w. corner, one of Vaidyanātha to the north of the *mahāmaṇḍapa*, a Sūrya shrine in the n.-e. corner and a loose bas-relief of Jyeṣṭhā seem to be the only survivals of the original *parivāra* shrines. This temple may with reason be identified with the Tiruk-kuḍandai-kīḻkōṭṭam of Appar. The Mahādēva temple at Tiruccendurai (Trichinopoly district) built by Bhūti Āditya Bhaṭṭārikā, queen of the Cōḷa prince Arikulakēsari, in the reign of Āditya I,¹¹ the Agastyeśvaram of Mēlappaḻuvūr (Pl. IV fig. 8) with a circular *vimāna* on a square *garbhagṛha* of the time of Vijayālaya or Āditya, are other notable temples of this early phase of the transition to the Cōḷa style.