From the sixth–seventh centuries in southern India, temples to a variety of Hindu deities began to be built in stone and ornamented with a wealth of visual imagery. This book seeks to explore the relationship between the evolution of iconography from the temples built across the South between the sixth and twelfth centuries, and the changing social, religious and political conditions of the period. In order to do this an impressive volume of Tamil and Sanskrit sources are examined – religious narratives from the epics and Purāṇas, iconographic sections from the Agamas, inscriptions, court literature, Sangam poetry – alongside a wide range of stone sculpture from temples across southern India.

The five chapters of this book discuss the evolution of divine power, the development of “heroic discourse” and royal power, and the relationship between these two realms as expressed in visual and literary material. These discursive sections precede and follow chapter 2, “Puranic pantheons and their iconography (ad 600–1200)”, which occupies over half the book. This is a long survey of some of the major iconographic forms of the Hindu deities depicted in south India's temples that the author seeks to relate to ideologies of royal power: these include standing, sitting and reclining forms of Viṣṇu; his avataras Varaha, Vamana/Trivikrama and Narasimha; Skanda and Somaskanda images; Siva as Gangadhara, Tripurantaka and in various dance poses; and the forms of the Goddess. The images selected are mostly from familiar and well-known sites, primarily Pallava and Chola-period sites in northern and central Tamilnadu. A few temples from further north in Karnataka, such as the Early Western Chalukyan sites at Aihole, Badami and Pattadakal, and Ellora in Maharashtra are also cited. The examination of some of the wealth of imagery from this broad range of impressive monumental sites within a single volume, that is limited neither by a dynastic or regional framework (e.g. “Temples of the Early Cholas”), nor by the requirements of a general introductory survey, is refreshing and stimulating though not without its problems.

The connection between these sites and regions is not explained and the reader is assumed to be familiar with the history and dynastic framework of this period. Buddhist and Jain images are not mentioned, despite the presence of such worship communities throughout the region in this period. The book is illustrated throughout with 135 monochrome photographs of sculptures either in situ or in the collection of the Tanjavur Art Gallery, the majority by the author. For such an expensive publication the picture quality is poor and seriously detracts from the quality of the book and the conviction of its discussion. The captions are frequently inadequate: “Nataraja bronze, Tanjavur” for four photographs (figs. 99–102) with no scale, date, provenance or accession number; other sculptures are simply identified by a site name, with no indication of which temple or where on the temple the sculpture was located.

The book's thesis – that south Indian religious imagery can be interpreted as political allegories – is certainly viable and worth examining. However, this is far from original and so the author is largely synthesizing existing material – not always very thoroughly or effectively. There is little on the critical reading of inscriptions as royal eulogies, on the fragmentary evidence for “royal” patronage, or even the close reading of specific sites or icons, as scholars such as Daud Ali, Padma Kaimal, Michael Rabe and Leslie Orr have conducted for the culture of the Tamil region studied by this book. The many surprising absences in the survey of existing literature reinforce the sense that the author does not have a firm grasp of the field of study. Though completed in 2011, only one source cited in the book dates later than 2000; a more thorough revision of the thesis from which this emerged would have been merited. This is disappointing as the author has travelled extensively, read widely and attempted to synthesize a wealth of material in to a readable account of the development of Hindu sculpture in south India.