The early morning is the best time to catch the best light in almost every temple I've seen in India, since most of them are oriented east-west, with the deities illuminated by the first sun rays. This is also the case in Kajuraho, so about 7. a.m. we start our tour of one of the most famous temples in India, which I had just heard about because of the erotic sculptures on the outer walls. This amazing stone complex was built by the Chandella dinasty that ruled in central india in the middle ages. According to the legend its founder Chandravarma was born to Hemavati after being embraced by the Moon. He created a longlasting dinasty that believed in the universe as being created by the divine union of man and women.
The main temples from afar
The first sun rays illuminating the shrines
The rising towers piling on top of
each other
It's really amazing to see how this philosophy is applied from every single architecture detail to the complex as a whole. The whole stonework is held without the use of mortar, just by the use of "mortise and tenon" joints and believe it or not "gravity".
Mortise and tenon joints, symbolizing UNION
Sculptures symbolizing the UNION of man and woman
These sculptures are placed at a very particular place:
in the imaginary line between the main shrine (the divine) and
the entrance porch (the mundane) symbolizing again UNION
This completely knocks me out...not just the architecture is breathtaking but is charged of so much meaning, and every detail is planed according to their philosophy. People think of these temples of being mere depictions of the Kamasutra positions...but it's not at all about that. Just 10% of the sculptures here are erotic, the most part of it being depictions of the life in the middle ages. It's just that for them, sex was a natural part of human life, with "divine" connotations since it's the source of creation. Women were also venerated as being the "mothers" of humanity. I like that part!
Here are some of the other friezes:
This ceiling over the entrance porch is
a complicated stonework
Other sculptures represent ordinary (but very sexy) women of that time
Woman removing a thorn from her feet
In the inner walls of the temple sculptures of nymphs are depicted
Impressive flat stonework
One of the corner shrines of the main
temple also has nice flat stonework with
an interesting shadow effect
Some of the towers suffered a low budget restauration!
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