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Khajuraho - The Kamasutra
Khajuraho is a village in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, located in Chhatarpur District, about 385 miles (620 kilometres) southeast of Delhi, the capital city of India and famous for their erotic sculpture. The name Khajuraho, ancient "Kharjuravahaka", is derived from the Sanskrit word kharjur meaning date palm. One of the most popular tourist destinations in India, Khajuraho has the largest group of medieval Hindu and Jain temples with carvings of erotic sculpture.
The Khajuraho group of monuments has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and is considered to be one of the "seven wonders" of India. here were originally over 80 Hindu temples, of which only 25 now stand in a reasonable state of preservation, scattered over an area of about 8 square miles. The temples of Khajuraho suffered destruction by early Muslim invaders between c. 1100-1400 AD as various disfigured statues at the temple complex attest. Today, the temples serve as fine examples of Indian architectural styles that have gained popularity due to their explicit depiction of the traditional way of sexual life during medieval times. Locals living in the Khajuraho village always knew about and kept up the temples as best as they could.
They were pointed out to an English man in late 19th century and the jungles had taken a toll on all of the monuments. Kama means sexual pleasure and Shastra means specialized technique or knowledge so when both words are combined, it becomes Kamashastra which means specialized technique of providing sexual pleasure. In Kamasutra, the word sutra means literary composition so Kamasutra is a literary composition providing special knowledge of sexual pleasure.The temples of Khajuraho are very ancient, ranging from one thousand and more years. The carvings on the inner and outer walls of these temples depict the lessons in sex education. However these temples also contain the idols of Gods and Goddesses, too. This proves beyond doubt that in ancient India, sex was regarded as inherently noble, and the sexual rapture was regarded as something like the spiritual bliss.
Khajuraho is known the world over for its temples, sex, architecture and sculpture. The construction of these Temples are thousand-year old took a little over two centuries, in terms of architecture of these temples, they form the high peak of the north Indian 'nagara' style.
Of the 85 temples believed to have been built between the 9th and 12th centuries only 20 have survived, many in splendid condition, others having given way to the ravages of time and nature. Close to and around Khajuraho is forest land; a small clearing houses a village populated by no more than 3,000 residents, but visited each year by tourists from all over the world. Hotels, restaurants and souvenir shops mark the entrances to the two distinctive groups of temples; little boys switch from Spanish to French to German in rapid succession as they peddle handicrafts or mineral water; signboards, too, are posted in various languages, and the villagers now seldom bother to look up when they hear the thunder of airplanes overhead.
The hub of tourist activity are the temples built by the Chandela Rajputs, who can be traced as descendants of the moon god. The head of the clan is believed to have been a valiant warrior who fought lions bare-handed (hence the emblem, frequently seen at the temples, of a warrior grappling with a lion); he is said to have ordered the building of the temples as a means of salvation for his mother, Hemvati, who was ravished by the Moon god.
The spate of temple- building which began about the middle of the 9th century and continued until the early 12th century must have used the skills of thousands of sculptors, architects and masons; unfortunately, there is almost no record of this activity in the annals of Indian history. By the time the last temple was completed the Chandela dynasty had sunk into oblivion.
Khajuraho was the Chandela capital for only a brief period; they ruled for the most part from Kalinjar and other parts of the Bundelkhand region, with Khajuraho remaining their religious center. The most important aspect of the temples is the abundance of sculptures that decorate the facades and interiors of the shrines. In this profusion of images attention has understandably been paid to divinities, less Understandably to celestial beauties and the female form in general and, controversially, to graphic sexual representations.
Over the years a number of explanations have been forthcoming for the presence of erotic sculptures at what was essentially a religious centre; no single theory, however, has been able to justify their profuse expression. Were these temple centres of tantrik mysticism, which cites sex as an important component of human development towards the Absolute or were they merely a reactionary swing away from the austerities preached by the Buddha? Perhaps the answer can be found as excavations in the region continue, but this much is certain: Buddhism did at one time have a strong presence here, just as tantric rituals enjoyed a wide adulation during the medieval period.
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