Just outside the Sun Temple's main enclosure stands a separate small shrine housing a colossal chlorite slab carved with the nine planetary deities of Hindu astrology — Surya the sun, Chandra the moon, Mangala (Mars), Budha (Mercury), Brihaspati (Jupiter), Shukra (Venus), Shani (Saturn), Rahu and Ketu.
The slab was originally the architrave above one of the temple doorways. It was lowered and moved here in the 1960s after concerns about its weight on the deteriorating stonework. The piece is one of the finest large carvings to survive from the temple, and gets unusually close attention from visitors because it is at eye level rather than fifteen metres up.