The Colas c35.44

c35.44

The mention of the *amman* shrine suggests the consideration of some new developments in general before we proceed to the last period of Cōḷa art. The Devī or goddess (*amman* in Tamil) has a separate name in each local shrine and is looked upon and worshipped as the consort of the deity in the main temple; the separate temple in which she comes to be enshrined at first rarely from the time of Rājēndra I, then more and more regularly, is called *tirukkāmakkōṭṭam*. Though at Gaṅgikoṇḍa-cōḷapuram this *kōṭṭam* came up along with or very soon after the main temple, in Tanjore the corresponding temple of Bṛhannāyaki came up only in the thirteenth century.³³ Another *amman* shrine of the time of Rājēndra I seems to be referred to in an inscription of his reign from the eastern wall of the Maṅgalāmbikā shrine in the Śiva temple at Kaṇḍiyūr (Tanjore district) but a gap in the record considerably obscures its import.³⁴ It is possible, but by no means certain, that the Śrī Bhaṭṭārakiyār, mentioned beside Durgā in a list of shrines enumerated in an inscription of the 26th year of Rājēndra I from Eṇṇāyiram (S. Arcot) also refers to a separate shrine for the goddess.³⁵ Clearer evidence of the existence and reconstruction of such