A History of South India from Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar c21.76

c21.76

The beautiful little temple of Nāgeśvara at Kumbakonam is more or less of the same period and style, but its most remarkable feature is the sculptures found in the niches on its outer walls. The central niche on each side of the cella enshrines the usual deity—Ardhanāri on the west, Brahmā on the north, Dakṣiṇāmūrti on the south—but the others carry almost life-size sculptures of men and women in such high relief as to appear almost in the round; they are in graceful attitudes and are undoubtedly portraits either of donors to the temple or contemporary princes and princesses. There are other sculptures of Purāṇic scenes in somewhat low relief in small squares on the plinth below the pilasters of the walls of the cella, which remind one of the art of the goldsmith or of the carver in wood.