Khajuraho:

To view the sculptures of Hindu temples at Khajuraho was one of the main reasons why we went to India. They didn't disappoint us.

Temples at Khajuraho were built by many kings of the Chandela dynasty, whose capital was Khajuraho, in span of about 200 years from the beginning of the 10th century. Many temples were built to offer gratitude to a variety of Hindu gods and goddesses for winning in wars as they expanded the dynasty's territory.

The Chandela dynasty as well as other regions in India were attacked hard by Moslem invaders. They survived the attack but they shifted their capital to Ajaigarh. By then the dynasty was no more than a group of local chieftains. Sher Shah laid siege of the fort in 1545 and the last princess was killed in battle with Asaf Khan in 1564.

The glory of the dynasty which ruled central India for half a millennium is witnessed here among temples of Khajuraho. An adventurer from Morocco, Ibn Battuta testified to the existence of the glorious Hindu temples in his travelog as late as 1335.

Khajuraho is located just about in the middle of India but the location is not very convenient to approach from anywhere near by any means. This could be one reason why the site was well preserved until the British "re-discovered" it. Once there used to be 85 temples but now only 24 or 25 (disputed) temples remain intact.

The long-abandoned temples, overgrown by forest, were "re-discovered" by the ruling British in 1838. Some of Queen Victoria's upstanding officers were not impressed. General Sir Alexander Cunningham, who mapped the site, described the sculptures as "highly indecent, and most of them disgustingly obscene".

These erotic sculptures are highly promoted in many tours. However, the number of those is not more than 10% of all the figures among the friezes. There are many theories for the explanation of those erotic figures.

One of them is a symbolized representation of tantric rituals, while others view them as the purifier for the devotees who come to worship gods. Others attribute to it to the desire of the sculptor to show life in its naked reality. Some say that it is related to the fertility cult. The more plausible explanation could be that life in total has been depicted.

The subject of eroticism and its philosophical and religious interpretations are not new in the oriental world. Kama or pursuit of pleasure was deemed to be one of the four purusharthas or legitimate aims of life for a Grahast and was regarded as a stepping stone to moksha, or enlightenment. Therefore, these erotic scenes were not regarded as abnormal or unnatural.

The temples are grouped by region. Only the Western Group is a museum with admission, which foreigners pay US$10.00 while locals pay only a few rupees, which we thought was a wonderful policy. The pictures of friezes might not correspond to the adjoining temples' pictures. It was not possible to get all the references for those pictures afterwards.