Chandeshvara Nayanar

Processional bronze images of him generally show him as a boy, with entwined locks of hair, standing with his hands in Añjali Mudrā and with an axe in the crook of his arm.

He is depicted as deeply lost in meditation, and devotees snap their fingers or clap their hands to attract his attention.

[1] The South Indian legend, narrated, for instance, in the Periyapuranam, states that he was born into a Brahmin family and was called Visarasarman.

The news of this wastage of milk reached the ear of his father, Datta; and he himself came to the field to scold his son.

[2] While praying to Chandesha (or Chandikeshwara) in South Indian temples, devotees click their fingers or clap.

Chandesha is now often regarded as an exclusively South Indian figure, but he was once known in North India too, and probably also as far afield as Cambodia.