Monday, December 29, 2008

Khajuraho : the largest group of medieval Hindu and Jain temples

Khajuraho is the village in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, located in Madhya Pradesh, chattarpur district, about 385 miles southeast of Delhi, the capital of India.

The khajuraho list of monuments has been listed as the UNESCO world heritage site. Khajuraho consists of the largest group of medieval Hindu and Jain temples, famous for their erotic sculptures.

HISTORY

The temples of khajuraho are the perfect examples of architectural geniuses, during the times of chandela dynasty, a hindu dynasty that ruled this part of the country from the 10th to 12th centuries. The khajuraho temples were built over a span of 200 years. There were originally 80 temples, of which only 25 survived the rough weather conditions over long years of time.

ARCHITECTURE

The khajuraho temples, constructed with spiral superstructures, adhere to northern Indian shikhara temple style, and often to panchayatana plan or layout. A few of the temples are dedicated to jain pantheons, rest to hindu deities - the god trio brahma, Vishnu and shiva and to various devi forms such as devi jagdambi

TOURIST ATTRACTIONS

Travelers come from far and wide to see the world famous temples of khajuraho. The temples are all there to see, but you don't need much more than these magnificient monuments to god, as you try and absorb man's artistic ability and artistic sense. They breathe life into mere slabs of stones.

The carvings depicts a variety of moods of every aspect of the human life-from mundane to sublime, and has carved images of god and goddess, 'apsaras', aimals, frozen in stone due to its artistic brilliance.

KHAJURAHO TEMPLES

The temples at khajuraho are divided into three main categories- the western group, the eastern group and the southern group. The western group- this is the largest and paramount group with most of its constituent temples laid our roughly in two rows. the lakshmana temple, the vivanatha and the nandi temples are not far from this complex.

The eastern group consists of brahmanical temples known as vamana and javari, whereas the southern group consists of duladeo and chaturbhuja temples. Read more Khajuraho Travelogue

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