Khajuraho

• Khajuraho is popular for its textile produces mostly sarees. Remember to pick up a few from the local emporiums lined on the roads.
• Another popular selling souvenir in Khajuraho is are the traditional handicrafts and handloom products. Plenty of stores sell tribal artefacts, brassware, paintings etc.
• Another option is Miniature Stone Carved replicas of the sculptures in the temples.
• Besides all of these, the street bazaars are flooding with funky jewellery, neckpieces, earrings etc.

The temple complex in Khajuraho is grouped into two categories based on their orientation- Western Group of Temples and Eastern Group of Temples. The Western group is more famous out of the two as it has the largest temple Kandariya Mahadeo Temple which is dedicated to the glory of Lord Shiva.

The Western group mainly houses the temples dedicated to Hindu gods and goddesses. Among a large number of temples built in the complex, six are dedicated to Lord Shiva, eight are dedicated to Lord Vishnu, one each to Lord Ganesha and the Sun God, while three are dedicated to Jain Tirthankaras. All of these have beautiful intricate designs and boast of fine architecture and the very famous ever-so-elaborate sculptures.

The Eastern Group primarily has the four Jain temples- Parasvanath, Adinath, Shantinath and Ghantai dedicated to the worship of the Jain Tirthankaras.

The Chandela rulers originally built these temples to represent love and lust in the purest forms. Some sculptures are bound to make you cringe, some will make you awe at the raw art, some will disappoint you and some will leave you in wonder. There are several stories weaved around the erotic sculptures of Khajuraho. One of these stories suggests that the moon God got allured by the beauty of maiden bathing in a lake under the moonlight. She ran to the forest to seek refuge and raised her son alone. In turn, the moon God promised her son, a kingdom of his own.

This lore claims that her son grew up to be the first Chandela ruler and influenced by her mother’s story, got the monuments constructed. Some theorists believed that the Chandela dynasty used the sculptures as forms of sex education. Some say that the carvings are symbols for “good luck”. Some suggest that the figurines much in love are only carved outside the temple and is a message that says to leave all lust and worldly pleasures behind before entering the temples, which in turn is a metaphor for “moksha” (Hindu theory of salvation).

The sculptures are grouped into five broad categories- The first ones are the Shilpshastras- the Jain Tirthankaras. The second category represents the deities, attendants, ganas, gandharvas, ashta dikpalas, among other images. The third category represents the apsaras, also called the sapna sundaris. These are sculptures of really beautiful women doing mundane jobs like holding a baby, painting, dancing or just plain undressing. The fourth category portrays scenes from everyday life- warriors, dancers, musicians, royal court, teacher, pupil etc. The fifth and the final category has the very famous erotic images of unnatural sex, group sex etc.