2018-03-05 Khajuraho

The Agra to Khajuraho flight was uneventful and arrival at Khajuraho was a surprise – a huge terminal building, polished marble floors… all very modern. We gather that the terminal was to be the new International terminal. However there was a tiny glitch. There was an ancient temple that prevented them from extending the old runway to the length needed for international flights. So now they have a really nice domestic terminal.

Khajuraho is famed for its complex of Hindu and Jain temples famed for their Nagara style architecture and erotic sculptures. The site is World Heritage listed. The temples were built mostly between about 950 and 1050 AD by the Chandela dynasty, with about 85 temples spread over 20 square km noted in records from the 12th century, but only a core of 25 temples remain in about 6 square km centred on the Khajuraho town, with the majority in the Western Temple complex.

Arriving late, we took a taxi from the airport to town, and hired the driver, Lachan, for the next day to tour us round the locality. Whilst most of the temples are in reasonable walking distance, in the heat the walking is less than comfortable, and we valued the local knowledge.

After arriving at our accommodation and freshening up Lachan took us to an isolated temple on the outskirts of town for the sunset light, and then to the the “Sound and Light” show in the Western Temple complex where we got a sort of potted history of the complex associated with coloured lights on the various temples as the narrative unrolled. After, we went to an Indian dance show. This was in a theatre within a vast emporium of local (we assume) crafts. The dance show turned out to be rather “Bollywood” – entertaining in a way, but not quite what we had expected.

Next day Lachan picked us up before sunrise, gave us chai from a local vendor (excellent and it was fascinating to see the vendor at work) then took us for dawn light on another temple, and then we spend the morning at the Western Temple Complex, amusing ourselves with our cameras exploring the architecture and carvings.

Although there was a degree of sameness in the architectural style, the different temples all had their unique flavour and there were many interesting angles and shapes to capture. There was also a fascinating diversity in the sculptural elements. It seemed like some of the sculptors had a sense of humour. In one alcove on a temple I found this cheeky sculpture (note how the 4th war elephand is somewhat distracted by the goings on to its left:

 

 

 

There were many other erotic sculptures scattered about. The sculptors seem to have run riot on sexual imagery, and some of the carvings seem somewhat physically challenging.

 

In the mid-afternoon, Lachan took us on a personal tour of the village.

This was off the tourist beat, and gave us a flavour of village life. We parked outside, since the village streets were walking streets too narrow for vehicles other than bikes. At Lachan’s suggestion Steven bought a couple of bags of boiled sweets from a local shop. When the children flock around the tourists begging money we gave them sweets. That way, Lachan told us, the children would not get into bad habits, begging money from tourists rather than going to school.

The village is organised into sectors, mostly Hindu with various castes. There were a few Muslims, segregated into one small street, and we got the impression that they were not always welcome in the community. We noted that many doorways had tabular annotations, and discovered this was how they record households for polio vaccinations.  Lachan took us to his house for chai. He lives in a small house (2 main rooms) which he is currently extending, with his parents; we weren’t sure if his brother, wife, and daughter also lived there. We were a little surprised to see a very new TV with satellite reception in the main room, but thinking about it, for 2-3 months of the year the daytime temperatures are in the mid-40s and people become somewhat housebound. And when the monsoon rains come, it’s also unpleasant outside, so TV is a valued pastime.

We were also taken to a local private school, set up by charitable support, to provide education to the poor farm workers and orphans. We could not work out why they could not go to the government funded school, but clearly what they were doing was of great benefit. Discussing with the headmaster we were told they supported the education of 300 (10 classes) with free books, and bicycles supplied to assist those further from the village to get to school. We arrived about the end of the school day and were impressed by the students who seemed happy to be at school and studying hard.

Then, off to a temple for sunset light, before another dance show, this one put on by locals. It was much more interesting than the Bollywood affair we’d seen the night before, with live music, energetic and acrobatic dancing, and a feel of enthusiasm.

Next morning we packed and discovered our driver for the transfer to Banhavgarh was already there, so we skipped breakfast (bananas were purchased en route – 40 rupees (AU$0.80) for about a kg.  They were rather nice. I’ve added a few snaps through the window as we drove to give you a feel for the roads and the scenery.

Thus endeth our visit to Khajuraho. As usual there is a gallery of photos at https://photos.app.goo.gl/e1BIRo9y7r2A5vAv2