The Erotic Temples Of Khajuraho
Khajuraho is a village in Madhya Pradesh, central India, that gives its name to a cluster of eighty-four temples, at least twenty-five of which are major works of art, built between the tenth and twelfth centuries by the Chandella kings. They are listed as world heritage monuments and they are a veritable jungle of sculpture apart from being masterly examples of the Indian art of stone architecture. But the sheer aesthetic beauty of the temples has always been overlooked in the rush to view the hot stuff, which is an understandable human reaction. Since eroticism is the major prism through which the temples have always been viewed.
The temple complexes of Khajuraho have become world famous - and for all the wrong reasons. Just like the Kamasutra, one aspect of their multifaceted reality has dominated the public consciousness.
So if Khajuraho were used as a word association test, the inevitable response would be "erotic sculpture". Which is a pretty miserable reduction of the magnificence of Khajuraho, but perceptions are always more powerful than the truth.
The British were certain that these temples were proof of ancient India's decadence, the depths of degradation they had sunk into. This alleged weakening of the moral fibre, morality being defined as the denial of the sexual impulse at all waking moments, was the reason India fell an easy prey to invasions.
Other explanations eschewed the religious route and tried a secular approach.The Khajuraho temples were a paean to the joys of pleasure (kama), one of the purusharthas - actions worthy of being pursued as goals in life. Such interpretations found a lot of support from the Kamasutra, and the correct belief that ancient India had a very sane and joyful approach to sexuality. Thus the temples were sex education for the masses.