The carvings and paintings of Tiruppudaimarudur bring “flesh and blood” to the “dry bones” of the published histories of the Madurai Nayakas. In an extraordinarily lively manner, they show us the culture and socio-economic life of almost every part of society, from the king to the common man. They are, as it were, the photographs of the era!

The methodology followed in this book is almost entirely based on a careful and systematic analysis of the range and multiplicity of the styles of dress and ornament worn by the figures represented in the scenes that have been painted and sculpted on the five tiers of the temple’s gopura. We can thus identify the people, determine their ranks and discern the relations between social groups, whether officials, administrators, soldiers or commoners. This study offers us a veritable mirror of Nayaka times.