Image title: Bhairavi (Tiruvattariu temple)

Fig. 148 to Fig. 161 are the depictions of Bhairavi Cakra/Cakra Puja practice of the Tantric cult. Usually in sculptures, the practice of Bhairavi Cakra is always depicted with a group of male tantric practitioners who are lesser in height than the woman and standing in a nude pose with or holding their erect virile membrane (penis) in their hand. And they are in anjali mudra, in front of or at the legs of the gigantic nude women, (hereafter called as Bhairavi), who is showing her secret parts in a standing pose. However, there are slight differences in those depictions in each place. Sometimes the male practitioners may be four or less in numbers and even one also.

Fig. 152: This sculpture is found in a mandapa located in front of the sanctum of the Tiruvattariu temple. In this panel, a single practitioner in nude with his erect penis is shown behind the Bhairavi, who is standing and whose legs are crossed. She is shown nude with her big pudenda and her other secrets parts. He is in anjali mudra and wearing the rudrakshamala. More than fifty representations of (with some differences) of this Bhairavi Cakra are found in this temple as well as in the Tanumalaya temple at Sucindram in Kanniyakumari district.

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The Siddha/Natha tradition symbolize the most comprehensive understanding and application of the theoretical and methodological tenets of Tantric philosophy. There are many Siddha-centres all over the Tamilnadu. The temples in Tamil-Nadu contain the sculptures depicting the Tantric rites and the images of the venerated Siddhas in it.