Rear panels of the shrines
Look for Shiva with Uma and Skanda. The family image gives a devotional focus to the sculptural programme.
Kanchipuram
Temple Circuit · reading guide · 8 September 2026
Photo: Pinakpani / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 4.0Kailasanathar makes Shiva’s many forms the focus of a close visit. The ASI submission to UNESCO attributes the temple to Pallava king Rajasimha, whose reign was 700–728 CE.
Kailasanathar makes Shiva’s many forms the focus of a close visit. Look for Somaskanda: Shiva with Uma and Skanda. The enclosing miniature shrines create a sequence of sacred images around the principal sanctuary.
Rajasimha’s Pallava temple, from his reign of 700–728 CE, uses sandstone above a granite base. His son Mahendravarman added the smaller shrine on the same axis in front. The enclosing miniature shrines multiply the surfaces available for sacred imagery. Look for the Somaskanda family and changing forms of Shiva along that circuit. Some shrine interiors retain fragments of painting: this was once a world of colour as well as carved stone. The ASI submission also records an inscription of Chalukya king Vikramaditya II acknowledging the temple’s riches. Kanchi’s temples are on India’s UNESCO Tentative List, not yet an inscribed World Heritage property.
Published visiting periods: 06:30–12:30 / 16:00–19:30 IST
Hours checked against the linked source on 8 September 2026. Confirm changes and festival arrangements before departure. Kancheepuram district · temple information and published hours
Allow time for worship and the discoveries below. Follow posted access and photography rules.
Rear panels of the shrines
Look for Shiva with Uma and Skanda. The family image gives a devotional focus to the sculptural programme.
Miniature shrines along the enclosure
Follow the changing forms of Shiva and notice sandstone above the granite base. Do not assume the narrow inner passage is open.
Local story and translation review pending.