Day 2 Khajuraho
Reached Khajuraho early by 6 am bargained with a Hotel guy for half a day’s price and checked in to a decent hotel near Western Group of Monuments.
Started exploring from Western Group of Monuments.
Khajuraho was declared a World Heritage site in 1986. It is really one of the most fortuitous accidents of history that Khajuraho lies where it does well away from the path taken by the fanatical hordes that periodically unleashed their destructive wrath on the towns and villages of medieval India.
The amazing temples built here by the Chandela Rajput rulers during the 10th to 12th centuries, were thus spared the destruction and mutilation suffered by countless other temples throughout north and central India.
These group of Temples falls into three distinct groups and belong to two different religions Hinduism and Jainism.
In these temples, there is the depiction of royalty, armies, wrestling, kinship, war, courtship, marriage, lovemaking, music and dancing, spiritual teachings, union, meditation, bliss, gods, goddesses, plants, animals and an abundance of all human forms.
The Western group is the main group of temples at Khajuraho and should be seen first if you have a limited time at hand. The western group has temples dedicated to Shiva and Vishnu. Most of the temples are built on high platforms with a tower. Under the tower is the garbha-griha, the altar for the main deity. In front of the altar is the mandapa (hall), where the devotees worship. There is usually an ardha mandapa (a porch) between the doorway and the mandapa in most of the interesting temples in India.
The Jain temples in the south eastern group are very similar in construction to the others. The Parsvanatha temple is the largest of these. There are also temples to Ghantai and Adinatha. Though most of the temple in this group belong to Jain faith, there are three Hindu temples in this group – Bhrama (Shiva), Vaamana, and Javari.
5 km from the Khajuraho village, lies the Southern Group of temples. It as two main temples.??Chaturbhuja Temple (Jatkari Temple) and Duladeo Temple.
Khajuraho has grown into a major tourist destination from the obscure village it was. The temple town lies on the northern fringe of the state and served by an airport where loads of tourists arrive to see the magnificent temples. Of the 85 temples that were originally built, only 22 remain. For their magnificent and erotic rock carvings, these temples are now on the UNESCO World Heritage list.??In addition Khajuraho has the Vindhya range of mountains as its beautiful backdrop. This makes Khajuraho an even more fascinating destination to visit.
Started back on our journey to next destination Bodh Gaya.
Timings of Sound & Light Show at Western group of temples
English: 06:30 pm to 07:25 pm.
Hindi: 07:40 pm to 08:35 pm.
