The Colas c35.38

c35.38

The shrine of Caṇḍikeśvara is situated very near the main shrine to its north and looks like a miniature of it even in the double storey of the cella. The peristylar cloister connects as already noted a string of thirty-five subshrines—four at the four corners, six between them and on either side of the *gōpura* on the east, seven on the west, and nine each on the two sides. Most of them have now been walled up and converted to other uses; the corner ones which are intact recall the small early Cōḷa shrines already discussed. The full details of the *parivāra* deities enshrined in these subshrines and at Mūvarkōvil will perhaps never be known. The enclosing walls (*madil*) seen from outside also present the appearance of two storeys of equal height each topped by a massive curved cornice of its own. Their pilasters with quadrangular section and bulbous capital, superimposed one on the other, are quite impressive to look at and a series of *nandis* at regular intervals crown the walls.