The overnight sandal paste in particular is a wonder drug, a panacea for many incurable diseases. The constant performing of abhishekams has perhaps added cohesive strength to the image and in turn the medicinal qualities absorbed by the abhishekam materials, attributing to them miraculous curative properties. Sage Bhogar has created another timeless sentinel of a great scientific tradition, which now all but extinct. Like the non-corroding Iron Pillar in New Delhi, the deity at Palani has stood as a mute witness to history. Only spectroscopic, radiographic and carbon C-14 tests of the image can throw final light on it. The nine pashanas (poisons) of siddha science are all elements and compounds which evaporate under slight heat and there is no conceivable way in which they could have been 'amalgamated' into a castable metal. Some knowledgeable persons have felt that it is an understatement to call the image of Dandāyudhapani as an 'amalgam'. The slim figure has withstood the effect of abhishekams for centuries-about 700 abhishekams are done on a Karttikai day!-most miraculously and beyond human explanation. Here, it is an amalgam comprising navabashana or nine different kinds of medicinal minerals (some say poisons) blended together in certain rare proportions, the resultant substance resembling hard wax. The presiding deity in any temple is of stone. Unlike other temples, here the Lord does not take a siesta and the temple-doors are open continuously from twilight to night for nearly 16 hours at a stretch without interval.