Opening Kailasanatha

The footsteps and sensory experience of devotees linger in an Indian temple

Stone figures hardened by ascetic discipline and heroic effort face north in deep shadow. There they meet the gazes of the same gods and goddesses but with gentler bodies enacting grace, warmth, seduction, and marriage, drenched in sunlight, facing south. These figures adorn the eighth-century Kailasanatha temple complex in southeastern India, built by rulers who were both warriors and ascetics, engaged in the work of this world and in spiritual quests. They designed their temple as an exuberant visual feast to sustain both modes of being.

In Opening Kailasanatha, Padma Kaimal deciphers the intentions of the monument’s makers, reaching back across centuries to illuminate worldviews of the ancient Indic south. She reveals how circling the complex in a clockwise direction focuses the mind and spirit on worldly engagement; in a counterclockwise direction, on renunciation and ascetic practice. This pairing of highly charged, complementary pathways enabled devotees to grasp these counterpoised opportunities in their own listening, gazing, moving bodies. By focusing on the material form of the complex—the architecture, inscriptions, and sculptures, along with the spaces they carve out that guide light, shadow, sound, and footsteps—Kaimal offers insights that complement what surviving texts tell us about Shaiva Siddhanta ideas and practices, providing a rare opportunity to walk in the distant past.

"Kaimal's productive emphasis on movement and interaction to analyze the welter of imagery at the Kailasanatha temple is a brilliant reminder of what art and architecture can teach us about religion that is not accessible via the mere study of religious texts. . . . [T]his book is a wealth of new insights and information about a historically important temple; it merits the attention of any scholar of South Asian art, architecture, religion, or history."

"The book's text and design converge to make the complex subject much easier to understand. The text is unusually clearly written and in a style that is lively and fresh. . . . [A]n engaging and scholarly study of the temple that will serve college students as well as interested travelers."

"Padma Kaimal leads the reader through this temple complex and uncovers the many patterns and pathways available for experiencing Shiva and Pallava worldviews. . . . One major contribution of this study, and there are many, lies in the new conceptual frameworks it offers for understanding the dynamics between art and its patrons, makers, and users."

"Kaimal's unique contribution is that she reveals patterns that are more or less consistent across every carved surface and throughout the temple compound."