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KHAJURAHO THE EROTIC LOVE TEMPLE OF INDIA !

Khajuraho, the temple city of central India, is famous throughout the world for its exquisitely carved temples in stones. Thousands of visitors and tourists from all over the world flock together to envisage this immortal saga of Hindu art and culture engraved in stone by shilpies (stone craftsmen) a millenia ago.

Today, Khajuraho is a small village but a thousand years ago it was a large city of the Chandelas, medieval Rajput kings who ruled over Central India. Khajuraho is 595 km (370 miles) south-east of Delhi and can be visited by air, rail or road. An overnight train journey from Delhi takes the visitor to Jhansi, from where another morning train takes him to Harpalpur 85 km (53 miles) to the east.
According to the account of the medieval court poet, Chandbardai, in the Mahoba-khand of his Prithviraj Raso, Hemvati was the beautiful daughter of Hemraj, the royal priest of Kashi (Varanasi). One summer night, while she was bathing in the sparkling waters of
a lotus-filled pond, the Moon god was so awestruck by her beauty that he descended to earth in human form and ravished her. The distressed Hemvati, who was unfortunately a child widow, threatened to curse the god for ruining her life and reputation. To make amends for his folly the Moon god promised that she would become the mother of a valiant son. 'Take him to Khajjurpura', he is believed to have said. 'He will be a great king and build numerous temples surrounded by lakes and gardens. He will also perform a yagya (religious ceremony) through which your sin will be washed away.' Following his instructions, Hemvati left her home to give birth to her son in a tiny village. The child, Chandravarman, was as lustrous as his father, brave and strong. By the time he was 16 years old he could kill tigers or lions with his bare hands. Delighted by his feats, Hemvati invoked the Moon god, who presented their son with a touchstone which could turn iron into gold, and installed him as king at Khajuraho.

The Erotic Sculptures

The visitor to Khajuraho cannot but be attracted to the vivid erotic sculptures on the temples walls. The sculptures are mithunas i.e. couple in various erotic poses. There have been many interpretations of their existence and some have criticized them severely. According to one authority, a man and woman in erotic embrace typify the ultimate union of the soul such erotic figures save the temple from beings struck by the lightening. The reason given for this is that Indra, Lord of rainand thunder bolt who himself is a great connoisseur of Kama, will not damage anything pertaining to that.

The Erotic SculpturesThat indeed is his form in which all objects of desire have been realized, in which they have become the self, and which is devoid of desire and beyond grief". These erotic figures are also symbolized by a few as representing tantric rituals, while other view them as the cleaner or the purifier for the devotees who come to worship God. These sculptures, they say, serve as a test for the devotees self control in order to achieve the goal that is to reach the deity placed in the sanctum. In other words it means that if a person wants to achieve God, he has to forget all this at the outset.

The presence of erotic sculptures show that there were no taboos or inhibitions against sex as we have now. The people of that time took a healthy view of things and gave sex its requisite place in its life. Kama or pursuit of pleasure was deemed to be one of the four purusharthas or legitimate aims of life offer a Grahast and was regarded as a stepping stone to moksha, or deliverance. Thereforere, these erotic scenes were not regarded as abnormal or unnatural.