This poetic narrative discusses the creative life of a 9th century
Indian stonecarver who is drafted at an early age to spend his entire
life working on the thousands of statues that fill the niches of an
Indonesian temple. Exploring the muse-artist relationship as few works
of fiction have done, this novel is an intensely political work--a
parable that pits the blind cruelty of a feudal ruler against the
creative expression of a single slave.