File:Perur 1.jpg

English: Print from an album of 44 albumen prints, showing a carved pillar at the Pattiswaraswami temple at Perur near Coimbatore, taken by Edmund David Lyon around 1868. The temple is believed to date from the Chola period and is attributed to Karikala Chola (2nd century AD), but most of it was completed in later centuries. This is one of the Tandavasthalas or Dancehalls of Shiva and has a gold-plated statue of Shiva as Nataraja, the Lord of the Dance. Lyon's 'Notes to Accompany a Series of Photographs Prepared to Illustrate the Ancient Architecture of Southern India' (Marion & Co., London, 1870), edited by James Fergusson, explains that this photograph is of '...the fourth Pillar on the left side of the centre aisle. It represents Shiva in the act of destroying one of the sons of Kasimuni, the enemy of mankind, by spearing him in the eye'.