Dakshinaamoorthy at the Thaayumaanavar temple

Dakshinaamoorthy (meaning,South facing god) is an important deity in any Shiva temple. He will be in a sitting posture, meditating with a mudra (Making a circle with the help of the index finger and the thumb and leaving the other three fingers straight). Usually 4 disciples will be seated around the guru - DakshinAmoorthy. They are sanakar,sanandanar,sanAthanar,sanath kumArar.

At the Maathrubhootheswara temple, 4 more disciples along with the above 4 will be present. They are Patanjali,VyAgrapAdhar, Siva Yoga muni and Tirumoolar. This is the only temple where there are 8 disciples to the guru - mEdhA dakshinAmoorthy.