Khajuraho
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Khajuraho |
| Khajuraho |
| Khajuraho is a quiet little
village in the province of Madhya Pradesh. The roads that lead to it and
that had us drive from village to village are full of potholes. By most
standards, this place is in the middle of nowhere today, as it must have
been 1000 years ago. But what an incredible place ! With the Taj Mahal and
the cities of Varanasi and Jaipur, the temples of Khajuraho are one of
India's major attractions. The location is probably as important as the
temples themselves : the temples are spread out in a large green park that
enables visitors to forget everything else and only see the stunning
temples. Despite the pouring monsoon rains, we were stunned. We'll just
leave you with some pictures.
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| Most temples in Khajuraho
date from 950 to 1050 AD. Not only are people intrigued about the off the
beaten track location of Khajuraho, the mystery remains about how the
Chandela dynasty was able to recruit the labour to manage to build so many
temples of such monumental size in just 100 years. As with the Buddhist
caves in Bingling Si, China, the remoteness of the location has helped
preserve Khajuraho from human destruction, in this case from the Muslims.
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| Khajuraho is famous for the
vast amount of decoration that embellish the temples. These show all
aspects of Indian life of 1000 years ago : gods and goddesses, warriors
and musicians, real and mythological animals as well as aspects of daily
life. The temples were literally covered with sculptures.
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Breathtaking detail work, meter after meter up to the sky
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| Khajuraho is also famous for
two elements that appear over and over again : women and eroticism. Stone
figures of "apsaras" or celestial maidens appear on very temple.
"They pout and pose for all the world like pin-up models posing for
the camera. In between are the mithuna, erotic figures, running
through a whole Kamasutra of possibilities".
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We are doing well !
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