Khajuraho

Khajuraho is a town in the Chhatarpur district of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, best known for the Khajuraho Group of Monuments, a UNESCO World Heritage Site comprising medieval Hindu and Jain temples renowned for their architecture and intricate sculpture. The town lies in the Bundelkhand region and is a major destination on the cultural tourism circuit of central India.

Key facts

Geography

Khajuraho is situated on the Vindhyan plateau in northern Madhya Pradesh, roughly between the towns of Chhatarpur and Panna. The surrounding landscape consists of low rocky outcrops, agricultural land, and dry deciduous forest. Panna National Park, known for its tiger population, lies a short distance to the east.

History

The town derives its historical importance from its role as one of the principal religious and ceremonial centres of the Chandela dynasty, which ruled large parts of Bundelkhand from around the 9th to the 13th centuries. The Chandelas commissioned a series of temples at Khajuraho, with most of the surviving structures dated between the reigns of Yashovarman and Vidyadhara, roughly between the early 10th and the mid-11th centuries CE.

Following the decline of the Chandelas and shifts in regional power, Khajuraho lost its status as a royal centre, and many of its temples fell into disuse. The site remained largely outside mainstream attention for several centuries until it was reported to a wider audience in the 19th century by the British engineer and surveyor T. S. Burt in 1838, after which it was studied more systematically by Alexander Cunningham and the Archaeological Survey of India.

The monuments

Of an originally larger group, about 25 temples survive at Khajuraho. They are conventionally divided into three groups by location:

• Western Group – the largest and most visited cluster, including the Kandariya Mahadeva, Lakshmana, Vishvanatha, and Devi Jagadambi temples.
• Eastern Group – containing both Hindu and Jain temples, including the Parshvanatha, Adinatha, and Ghantai temples.
• Southern Group – including the Duladeo and Chaturbhuja temples.

The temples are built largely of sandstone and follow the Nagara style of north Indian temple architecture, characterised by a high curvilinear shikhara, a clustered superstructure, and a clear axial plan from the entrance porch (ardhamandapa) through the mandapa to the inner sanctum (garbhagriha). Their exteriors carry tiered bands of sculpture depicting deities, celestial beings, attendants, mithuna couples, scenes of daily life, and a small proportion of erotic imagery for which the site is widely noted in popular description.

The Kandariya Mahadeva, dedicated to Shiva, is the largest and most elaborately developed temple at the site and is considered a high point of central Indian temple architecture. The Lakshmana temple, dedicated to Vishnu, carries an inscription dated to the reign of Yashovarman and is among the earliest of the surviving group. The Parshvanatha temple is the largest of the Jain shrines.

UNESCO recognition

The Khajuraho Group of Monuments was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1986 under cultural criteria, recognised for its outstanding artistic creation and as an exceptional testimony to the civilisation of the Chandelas. The site is maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India.

Culture and tourism

Khajuraho hosts the annual Khajuraho Dance Festival, organised by the Madhya Pradesh government's culture department, in which leading exponents of Indian classical dance forms such as Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Odissi, Kuchipudi, Manipuri, and Kathakali perform against the backdrop of the temples. The town also has an Archaeological Museum and the Jain Museum, displaying sculpture