Opening Kailasanatha, Padma Kaimal [Batza Professor of art and art history and director of the Division of University Studies] 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.”
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