The Colas c35.30

c35.30

shrine and the gateway (*gōpura*) on the central axis was the *balipīṭha* or *dhvajastambha* about 5' 9" square. Of all these only the plinths have survived. Around this principal group and abutting the enclosing wall ran a covered cloister with fifteen subshrines. The basements of 14 of these are intact while the one at the south-east corner is altogether missing. The enclosing wall is massive, 3' 4" of stone; the main gate on the west is 4' 6" wide, and there is besides a passage (4' wide) on the north-east corner leading down a flight of steps to a circular stone well of ten feet diameter just outside. The principal shrines are *padmakośas*, and the mouldings of the basement, as indeed all that has survived of this temple-complex, are very fine work. The *bhūta* or *gaṇa* friezes below the massive arched cornices of the *vimāna* contain particularly fascinating studies in the funny and bizarre. Many of the fine sculptures of Śiva in his various forms on the *vimāna* and of the *parivāra devatas*, lying loose or excavated, deserve notice; these include Ardhanārī, Vīṇādhara Dakṣiṇāmūrti, Gajāri, Antakāsurasamhāra, Kirāta, Gaṅgādhara, Harihara, Umāprasāda, Saptamātṛkas, Mohinī and others.