The Nataraja temple complex incorporates Vaishnava themes and images like many Hindu temples in South India. A Vishnu shrine, for example, is found inside the sanctum of the temple in its southwest corner. According to George Michell and others, Chola kings revered Shiva with Tyagaraja and Nataraja their family deity, yet their urban Shaiva centers "echo a very strong substratum of Vaishnava traditions". This historic inclusiveness is reflected in Chidambaram with Vishnu Govindaraja in the same sanctum home by the side of Nataraja. After the turmoil of the 14th century when the temple was attacked and looted, there was period when some priests sought to restore only Shaiva iconography according to extant Portuguese Jesuit records. However, the Vijayanagara rulers insisted on the re-consecration of all historic traditions. The temple inscriptions confirm that Vishnu was included along with Shiva in the temple's earliest version, and was reinstalled when the temple was reopened by the Vijayanagara kings.