Khajuraho — Even Gods love frolic
But what about Khajuraho? Are the erotic sculptures against Hindu culture too?
So goes the argument of the liberals, leaving Khajuraho an unwitting moral reference of an ostensibly promiscuous past.
Let’s get some basics right.
There is no single Hindu culture — what we know as Hinduism today is an amalgamation of multiple viewpoints, many significantly different from those of the past.
Khajuraho probably represents an ancient philosophy of life, that along with the culture that facilitated it, died out over the ages.
Sexual acts and devotion both go hand in hand, as the famous carvings show. Did they depict a culture where wanton pleasure was the rule? Or did they go to show that one had to enjoy desire, wealth and do one’s duty before attaining nirvana? Or were they symbolic depictions of a deeper philosophy of fertility? No one knows for sure.
What we know as Khajuraho are a set of temples that were constructed between the 10th and 12th centuries.
Let that sink in for a minute. These temples are almost a thousand years old, dating back to a time when Western Europe was still in the Dark Ages. Given the amount of time that’s passed since then and with no written records to fall back on, most of what we know are interpretations of the culture.
The temples were built by the Chandela dynasty that claimed descent from the moon god. The first temples were built around 940AD at a land that was famous for date palm trees (khajur in Sanskrit) or had emblems of date palms (again, no one knows for sure). As per some legends, over 22 monarchs commissioned over 85 temples and over 16000 sculptors and architects worked on the temple. Of these, about 20 stand today, some of them with parts reconstructed. All the temples were built from sandstone, and display incredible craftsmanship.
Khajuraho stands within the Vindhya mountain range. Though famous even when they were built, Khajuraho was never the capital of the dynasty but seen more as a holy place in the empire. As the Chandela dynasty waned, the temples were slowly forgotten, and the forest reclaimed them.
The famed traveler, Ibn Batuta, is said to have visited Khajuraho during his travails in India in the 13th century and had noted that they were home to many holy men. Khajuraho was part of many Muslim empires in India, and some of the temples were damaged between the 13th and 18th centuries. However, nature itself threw a protective cloak around them and the surrounding forests dimmed memories of the grand temples.
The temples were rediscovered by the British in the 19th century, and have been restored over the years. The temples of Khajuraho are classified as a UNESCO heritage site.
The Western set of temples are the most famous and include temples to Shiva, Varaha (Vishnu’s avatar as a boar), Jagadamba Mata and Surya. Khajuraho also has Jain temples to Parasvnath and Mahavir Jain which are located some distance away.
The famous erotic sculptures adorn the exteriors of some of the Western temples. These depict human couples in various poses of lovemaking (mithuna), as well as celestial nymphs (apsaras) in various states of undress, adornment, and merriment. Alongside these, there are often sculptures of companions aiding couples or expressing desire or abashment.
These sit easily amongst other sculptures showing everyday life, war scenes and various gods from the Hindu pantheon. Almost every inch of the temple exterior is carved exquisitely, and we could not but admire the level of craftsmanship that went into making something so beautiful.
Our guide pointed out differences in the sculptures across temples. The first temple to be built — the Lakshman temple — had nymphs with voluptuous figures, whereas the towering Kandariya Maharaj temple built almost 150 years later showed them in more svelte forms. I wonder if this was because the concept of beauty had changed in those years, but there is no clear answer to questions like these.
All we can say for sure is that great art transcends time and has the power to awe even today.
