Next stop: Chetty koyil, where the Palliezhucchi has already happened, and also Swami abhishekam. Ambal looked like she was waiting for one. JayaShankar Gurukkal at the main sannadhi, another priest at Ambal’s. Gurukkal told us that this business of bringing Ambal from the palliyarai was started only a few years ago by a bhaktar, that usually there’s no such practice (I mentioned that the Sivan Koyil does this on Mondays, and he said “oh” and nodded). Anyway, he continued, there is no need, Ambal remains in the palliyarai. For utsavams it’s Chandrasekara and Uma who go out. The Ambal figure who is always just outside the sannadhi is Nilayambal or the “Ambal who stays in the Nilayam (house)” sort-of-thing, also called Bhoga shakti. The palliyarai swami sits opposite her, on a pedestal.