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Page 73
times in his life, still sighed: "Isn't it lovely? Look at the contrasts. You can see everything and just with natural light."
The interior is haunting in its beautya beauty enhanced by an abundance of over 200 temple carvings. Light, which flows into the small temple from the balconies and entrance, casts rays onto some of the slender pillars and unusually elongated shapes of female figures that speak of verticality and ascendancy. In other areas the light is intermittent, and not strong.
The temple's interior reveals more balance and harmony. Some of this is created by the ongoing dance of light and dark. Some of it is expressed through the presence of the guardian deities of the cardinal directions who remind us, again, of dualities: good and bad, life and death, enlightenment and ignorance. We are also reminded of balance and harmony through the important five elements, which are honored through their representative Vedic deities placed at the location assigned to them on the vastu purusha mandala.
A carving of Agni, the fire element, is in the southeast. Pitri, the earth element, is in the southwest. Vayu, the element of air, is in the northwest, Isa, the water element, is in the northeast. The Shiva-linga, resting in the inner sanctum or Brahmasthana, represents the element of space. And if Kandariya Mahadeva were a "living" temple instead of an historic monument, we would see all these same elements expressed during the performance of every puja.
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Figure 26
Diagram of Temple Interior

 
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