Following an evening in our home-stay in Orchha including some simple village food, accidentally joining a festival procession and staying in a hut invested with beetles (which thankfully turned out to be non-biting), we set out early the next morning for a four hour drive to Khajuraho.
Khajuraho is the site of a group of temples built between 950 and 1050 which are famous for their erotic sculptures. (WARNING - this blog post contains pictures which might confuse young children and lead to challenging questions...). The erotic sculptures comprise less than 10% of the overall temple carvings but are the reason that the village of Khajuraho has become a worldwide tourist attraction. The sculptures famously depict the kamasutra amongst other imaginative and impressive examples of human contortion.
The temple group includes both Hindu and Jain temples and an "Eastern" and "Western" site but it is the Western site which contains the most important temples. Like so many of India's most important historical monuments, the temples lay undiscovered for centuries until the British discovered them whilst hacking through a jungle and restored them to their former glory. The isolation of the temples for hundreds of years prior to their discovery means that the temples are in wonderful condition with very little damage to most of the ancient carvings. The temple group is now deservedly a UNESCO World Heritage site.
The Wikipedia page below contains a good introduction to the history of the temple group.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khajuraho_Group_of_Monuments
We shared a car from Orchha to Khajuraho with a nice journalist called Abhijit from Delhi who became our companion for the day. We hired a guide at the temple who explained that the various theories for the purpose of the erotic sculptures, the most likely and popular of which seems to be that the stone masons simply liked to keep themselves and the people of the kingdom entertained. There is no particularly deep meaning to the carvings, just that they act as a sex education lesson and kept people amused. Our guide pointed out the most intricate and unique carvings which I doubt we would have spotted without his help. For anyone planning a trip to Khajuraho, an (official government) guide is 900 rupees well spent.
After our tour around the main temples and a bite of lunch, we visited the Eastern group of temples which were not particularly exciting, although we did take the opportunity to pick up a selection of novelty keyrings, inspired by the sculptures. We are still contemplating who of our friends and family would most appreciate these as Christmas gifts....
Below is a selection of our photographs from our evening in Orchha and the temples at Khajuraho.
Khajuraho is the site of a group of temples built between 950 and 1050 which are famous for their erotic sculptures. (WARNING - this blog post contains pictures which might confuse young children and lead to challenging questions...). The erotic sculptures comprise less than 10% of the overall temple carvings but are the reason that the village of Khajuraho has become a worldwide tourist attraction. The sculptures famously depict the kamasutra amongst other imaginative and impressive examples of human contortion.
The temple group includes both Hindu and Jain temples and an "Eastern" and "Western" site but it is the Western site which contains the most important temples. Like so many of India's most important historical monuments, the temples lay undiscovered for centuries until the British discovered them whilst hacking through a jungle and restored them to their former glory. The isolation of the temples for hundreds of years prior to their discovery means that the temples are in wonderful condition with very little damage to most of the ancient carvings. The temple group is now deservedly a UNESCO World Heritage site.
The Wikipedia page below contains a good introduction to the history of the temple group.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khajuraho_Group_of_Monuments
We shared a car from Orchha to Khajuraho with a nice journalist called Abhijit from Delhi who became our companion for the day. We hired a guide at the temple who explained that the various theories for the purpose of the erotic sculptures, the most likely and popular of which seems to be that the stone masons simply liked to keep themselves and the people of the kingdom entertained. There is no particularly deep meaning to the carvings, just that they act as a sex education lesson and kept people amused. Our guide pointed out the most intricate and unique carvings which I doubt we would have spotted without his help. For anyone planning a trip to Khajuraho, an (official government) guide is 900 rupees well spent.
After our tour around the main temples and a bite of lunch, we visited the Eastern group of temples which were not particularly exciting, although we did take the opportunity to pick up a selection of novelty keyrings, inspired by the sculptures. We are still contemplating who of our friends and family would most appreciate these as Christmas gifts....
Below is a selection of our photographs from our evening in Orchha and the temples at Khajuraho.
Following a procession of women balancing these intriguing plants on their heads. The plants were eventually pulled apart and scattered in the river.
Sunset over Orchha
Our village host
Amazing quality carvings at the main temple
No comments:
Post a Comment