Khajuraho Trip

In December Somu and I went to Khajuraho and I am still living in ecstasy. I feel so proud to be an Indian with such a rich heritage and history. One is so stuck by the beauty of the temples and its beautiful sculptures and the intricate chiseling that we just ask ourselves, Is this real and made by humans. How on earth was this possible? The stones are so alive and they speak to you in your own language. One also marvels at the technology of the time for each stone is interlocked with one another and there is no binding element which is used. Tajmahal is also massive and beautiful but the Khajuraho temples surpass this for the period is much earlier than the TajMahal and technology was still not that developed.These temples were built from 9th to 12th cen. Today about 20 of the original 85 temples survive. These are divided, into western, eastern and southern groups of temples. The most beautiful are the western temples for they are not so badly damaged as the others. The southern group, particularly attractive at sunset against the backdrop of the Vindhya mountains, is situated some distance from the main village. The eastern group consists mainly of Jain temples.The beauty of these temples is that the sandstone walls are covered with sculptures. There are sculpted figures of gods and goddesses, kings and queens, heavenly maidens and animals - as well as ordinary human beings performing all the usual activities of daily living. The figures are shown doing everything that normal human beings are wont to do: hunting, farming, feeding, fighting, applying make-up and making love. They show a couple in sexual union next to a mother feeding her child, or a hunting group adjacent to a farmer at work. You see group sex next to Gods and goddesses. Showing all these day-to-day activities in detail was simply depicting what most normal people did in life, as real an aspect of art and culture. Khajuraho Sculptures also depict the royal hunt, the king at court, marching armies, domestic scenes, teacher and pupils, dance processions, a dancer conversing with an Acharya, sculptors at work, traders with camels, and others are shown in relief panels placed on the platform of the Lakshmana temple and on the row on the plinth of the temples.The beautiful sculptured figures are anatomically perfect – in one a maiden balances delicately on one foot while she removes a thorn from the other; nearby another diaphanous clothed woman admires herself in a hand mirror as she deftly applies eye shadow. tying or untying the waist girdle, rinsing water from wet hair, writing a letter, playing a game of ball, carrying a baby, and dancing all these are made alive in the sculptures. There is another beautiful sculpture where a woman getting scared of a monkey, comes closer to her lover and he is thankful to the monkey though outwardly he is pretending to shoo away the monkey. Made of finely grained stone and ranging from a variety of colours from pale buff, pink and yellow and brown, The Khajuraho sculptures yet have an element of smoothness and softness.

The depiction of the human body in various sensuous postures is very widely found in Khajuraho.Unfortunately, all these beautiful sculptures are lost in these temples and they are now only famous for their erotic sculptures. It is worth remembering that these erotic sculptures make up less than 10 per cent of all the carved figures but this is what every visitor notices, and remembers. The media, the internet and a lot of foreign attention to these have been responsible for this. The erotic figures are very explicit no doubt but then they are part of the Hindu philosophy and there are various explanations given. One argument says that erotic figures represent kama (desire), the third purushartha (aim of life), another argument says that they were designed to test the spiritual strength of the Yogis, Yet another theory is that they were intended for sex education. Another states that many people were becoming hermits due to the influence of Jainsim and these figures were an attempt to lure back people to life. Other states, that life is full of distractions and all these feelings must be left outside the temple, before entering the inner sanctum. One does not find such sculptures inside the temple, they are always outside. Most of the erotic figures are only on the third wall of the temples. According to Hindu philosophy human life consists of Dharma( Religion), Artha( Economy), Kama ( Sex) and finally Moksha ) Salvation). Since Kama is on the third phase most of the erotic sculptures are on the third wall. The erotic figures are very explicit and many beyond our imagination no doubt. They evoke a feeling of disbelief, shock and awe on doubt. It shows individual couples, group sexual activities and maidens masturbating, the ecstasy of love making and different kinds of stones being used for each stage and make you curious no doubt and you want to understand that society or the sculptors who did this. Many visitors leave Khajuraho with only these images. It is a pity that few visitors admire and enjoy the beauty of all the sculptures and most of the others are only attracted by the sexual images.I would put a lot of blame for this on the environment of Khajuraho also. The whole area near Khajuraho is filled with a lot of books like Kamasutra, you have very crude images made of these sculptures in different sexual positions which are sold like hot cakes. A lot of CD’s with phonographic material is also sold. You can see young boys some as old as ten or eleven selling a lot of pornographic material.. I saw a programme in the local channel that prostitution and trafficking was very common in Khajuraho because many of the visitors, especially foreigners want to try out the images with a real person. Hence prostitutions is rampant in this area and there are many gigolos and you have a lot of , Lapkes , the term used by the TV programme who are available, These are boys I understood but have still not been able to find out what this means exactly.I had read a report some time back that many foreigners who visit Khajuraho are so enamored by the guides and the details sexual explanations that they give that many of them get married. I asked my guide and he confirmed this. He said that there were nearly fifty to sixty guides who had married women from different nationalities. The Light and sound show was a little disappointing for I felt that its commentary was not balanced. It was in the voice of Amitabh Bacchan which was great but the script had many shortcomings. It highlighted the religious aspect and made these temples to be great places of worship and did not talk about the sexual images. It just spoke few words that these temples also have sexual images. This is truly a world heritage . Now I think Tajmahal is beautiful because of its symmetry and size but these temples have much more intricate work. Truly a great experience and I would recommend these to every one.I really wondered and have been thinking a lot about this after my return. Why is it that less than 10 % of the total figures are so much the centre of discussion and we forget the rest? What could be the reason? Is it that sexuality is the most powerful force and dominates every aspect of life? This is more so in the case of female sexuality. Male sexuality does not evoke such feelings. Why are most of the painters depicting female nudes. Male nudes, Kuros are depicted in Greek sculptors but this cannot be compared with female nudity. Is this something to do with procreation? Female nudes became the forefront of human creativity from the period of renaissance onwards. Sexuality is linked to the overall health of the body, soul, mind, emotions and finances and a flourished sexuality also flourishes human relations (interpersonal relations) and may be the sculptors of Khajuraho understood this in 9th cen.