It was not the practice in ancient India to denigrate the body as the abode of the devil. Life was clearly dichotomized between the amatory and ascetic-between the joys and pleasures of the world as against the spiritual rigors of the monastic retreat-- and both types of experience were equally valorized. Like the merging of the waters of the Ganga and the Yamuna at Prayaga, the twin streams of human love--love of God and love of men or women--found their apotheosis through the transcendent union of male and female in the image of the androgynous deity Ardhanarriswara. This is what a sacramental statutory with voluptuous frescoes. In the richly inclusive culture of India, piety was not a totem nor carnality a taboo. On the contrary, they were viewed as complementary aspects of human existence. This book captures this multivalent vision through its perceptive treatment of myth and legend.