“Do not live in a town without a temple,” says the Tamil epigraph with which Gods on the Move begins. In the Tamil region of South India, large temple complexes can be recognized today in almost every small and big city by their red-and-white striped walls; tall, gaudily painted gateways (gopuras); and a bustle of pilgrims, beggars, and flower-sellers. Branfoot’s interest in the subject was piqued by marketplaces in Cairo, as he states in the...