Two bodies, well sculpted into sandstone, embraced in the tangled position of grace and desire.

This is the subject of the "Mithunas," just one of the 18 sculptures being exhibited in an upcoming exhibition at the Palmer Museum of Art.

Starting Sunday and continuing for the next three years, the museum will be displaying Devotion and Diversity: South Asian Sculpture from the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

The museum is converting Tonkin, one of its seven permanent display galleries, into an Indian temple of tall pillars and acute lighting to display the new South Asian sculptures.

The 18 pieces will be shown along with two "relief" pieces that the museum already has intact. Both pieces were once part of an exterior decorative scheme. One is a fragment of a temple doorjamb, and the other is a sculpture of Vishnu Trivikrama placed in a wall niche.

"For this new display, lighting is very important," said Ron Hand, the exhibition designer.

To show the shadows of outside lighting, painstaking detail has been implemented. This has been a difficult task, but Rich Hall, the builder who Hand calls "craftsman extraordinaire," is working through it by planning for the exhibit casing long before receiving the pieces.

The religious pieces represent 2,000 years of culture, ending in the 18th century. They depict Hinduism — the majority religion in India — Buddhism and Jainism — a religion based on extreme non-violence. The exhibit showcases the Indian culture in its native form through the sculptures.

In contrast with the Greco-Roman art tradition in which gods such as Zeus are often portrayed as perfected versions of the human form, for the Indian artists mimicking reality was not a concern.

"Indian arts may not have the humanistic aspect that portrays the perfection of the gods. They are so beyond human characteristics that it's not uncommon to find a being portrayed as four-armed, three-eyed, half-human and half-elephant," said Joyce Robinson, curator at the museum. "The culture has a real frankness about the human form and the acceptance of body and sexuality."

The Museum Loan Network (MLN) has granted the museum this artwork on loan from the Philadelphia Museum of Art. By receiving funds from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trusts, the MLN's money can pay for research, crates and shipping of the sculptures to the museum. The network passes objects between 200 museums across the country.

Robin Seymour, coordinator of membership and public relations at the museum, said the museum worked very hard to get this grant and is grateful for it. "It enables museums to be museums without walls," Seymour said.

Seymour said being recognized by the MLN has put the museum in the big leagues. Soon it will also be sending out artwork from the museum's storage. "We really make the most of what we have," Seymour said. "Now that we are part of the network that sharing will be easier for us."

The Philadelphia Museum of Art had the South Asian sculptures in storage whereas the museum had room for them immediately.

"These sculptures, although there are only 18, represent a broad range of cultures, societies, beliefs and artistic approaches," Seymour said.

Over the long run, money from the MLN will go into furthering education through tours and Indian films.

At 2 p.m. Sunday, Darielle Mason, a curator from Philadelphia Museum of Art, will be lecturing at the Palmer Lipcon Auditorium. "Reintegrating the Cosmos: The Temples of India and their Fragments" will be part of the "Mary F. Linda Memorial Lecture Series" on South and Southeast Asian art. Also performing there will be the Pennsylvania Dance Theatre after Mason's speech. The choreographed dances, directed by Robert Steele, will symbolize the sculptures.