India Guide
Madhya Pradesh
The Western Group
Price: Rs250; son-et-lumière Rs300
Opening time: Daily sunrise to sunset; son-et-lumière March– Oct 7.30pm; Nov– Feb 6.30pm
Stranded like a fleet of stone ships amid pristine lawns and flowerbeds fringed with bougainvillea, the Western Group of temples is Khajuraho's prime attraction. With the exception of Matangesvara, just outside the main complex, all are now virtually devoid of religious significance, and only spring back to life during the Shivratri festival (Feb/March).
The richly carved Lakshmana temple, dating from 950 AD, is the oldest of the Western Group. It stands on a high plinth covered with processional friezes of horses, elephants and camels, as well as soldiers, domestic scenes, musicians and dancers. Among explicit sexual images is a man sodomizing a horse, flanked by shocked female onlookers. While the plinth depicts the human world, the temple itself, the adhisthana, brings one into contact with the celestial realm. Two tiers of carved panels decorate its exterior, with gods and goddesses attended by apsaras, "celestial nymphs", and figures in complicated sexual acts on the lower tier and in the recesses.
The largest of the group is the majestic Kandariya Mahadeva temple, built between 1025 and 1050 AD, is. A perfect consummation of the five-part design instigated in Lakshmana and Vishvanatha, this Shiva temple represents the pinnacle of Chandellan art, its ornate roofs soaring dramatically to culminate 31m above the base in a shikhara that consists of 84 smaller replicas.
Kandariya Mahadeva is especially popular with visitors for the extraordinarily energetic and provocative erotica that ornaments its three tiers, covering almost every facet of the exterior. Admiring crowds can always be found in front of a particularly fine image of a couple locked in mithuna (sexual intercourse) with a maiden assisting on either side.
The third of the three main Western Group shrines, Vishvanatha,can be precisely dated to 1002 AD as the work of the ruler Dhangadeva. Large panels between the balconies once more show mithuna, with amorous couples embracing among the sensuous nymphs. Idealized representations of the female form include women in such poses as writing letters, playing music and cuddling babies.