In front as you enter the inner courtyard is the Kanaka Sabha pavilion, where many temple rituals are performed. At puja times devotees crowd into and around the pavilion to witness the rites performed by the temple's hereditary Brahmin priests, the Dikshithars, who shave off some of their hair but grow the rest of it long (thus representing both Shiva and Parvati) and tie it into topknots.
