Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Temples of Love : Khajuraho

One of the most celebrated manifestations of Indian architecture is to be found in a group of temples at Khajuraho in central India. Situated a hundred miles south-east of the town of Jhansi in the modern-day state of Madhya Pradesh.

Once a great chandela capital, Khajuraho is now a quiet village. The town of exotic temples, Khajuraho is one of India's major tourists and honeymoon attractions. They are India's unique gift to the world, representing a melody to life, which encompasses all emotions ranging from love, sex and joy. Life, in every form and mood, has been captured in stone, testifying not only to the craftsman's artistry but also to the extraordinary breadth of vision of the Chandela kings.

The city was once the original capital of the Chandela Rajputs, a Hindu dynasty that ruled this part of India from the 10th to the 12th centuries. The Khajuraho temples were built over a span of a hundred years, from 950 to 1050. There were originally over 80 Hindu temples scattered over an area of about 8 square miles of which only 22 now stand in a reasonable state of preservation.


The temples of Khajuraho underwent destruction by early Muslim invaders. Following their abandonment, a number of them survived to be discovered by the British in the 19th century.


Thousands of artisans worked on stones and they created the most beautiful figures on the temples. Khajuraho statues of stones speak, sing, dance which seems to be alive and coming out of temple walls.

All the erotic sculptures are at the outer walls of the temples. But there is no erotic sculpture inside the temples. In fact, inside most of the temples there is nothing- just silence, a cool peaceful milieu, with the vibes of thousands of years of people meditating there.