The train ride to Khajuraho was pleasant even though my arm was giving me trouble.It was a little sore and I had to take a look at it using a mirror to determine the seriousness of the injury.I was glad that I had hurt my left arm and not the right.I still have about 2 more weeks to go and even though I am enjoying my stay here, I miss home terribly.
The train was delayed by over an hour but the hotel manager was still waiting for me at the station. Khajuraho train station is outside the small city and newly built. Hotel operators were standing outside on the new platform with guests name printed on ply-card. Yogi Hotel manager spotted me quickly and I departed to the hotel.
My hotel was right across the Eastern group of temples. Guest houses line up the small alley with handicraft stores and clothes store cramped in there as well. I was going to be in Khajuraho for 2 nights and was in no rush to see the temples right away. After shower and breakfast I meta fellow traveler from England,who was waiting to get train tickets to leave to Delhi. We spent some time discussing various topics and I bid him farewell. There's only a few places with wi-fi here so I tried my luck at Paradise restaurant. Ordered some dinner and browsed the net before calling it a day.
Next morning I was awaken by the door bell. The auto was ready to take me to the Raneh Falls and the Eastern and southern group of temple. The falls were 18km one way, so it was a good investment to see the falls and the temples for 500 rupees. The entrance to the falls was another 120 rupee but it was well worth it.Raneh falls is located in a 45 square mile protected reserve that is home to peacocks, deers, birds,monkeys and many other native species. It is the dry season so its mostly a tickle right now but during the monsoon the water levels rise drastically high. No swimming, fishing or boating is allowed near the falls due to prior accidents resulting in death. The protected area is one of the the cleanest places I have seen in India with very beautiful views. If anyone is ever around the area, the cost if totally worth it. There are also Gharials in some of the water deep inside the area, but to the the hot water they are said to be mostly resting in the deeper waters. The compulsory guide also gae a brief history on all the movies that were shot here, in particular was the Kama Sutra movie starring the ever so beautiful Reka.
The next stop were the eastern and southern temples that lay in the 2km radius of hotel.The eastern group consitied of three Hindu temples of Hanuman, Brahma and Vamana and, four Jain temples. These temples display a very minimum number of erotic scenes . The Jain temples display statues of Prasvanath. I do not have much knowledge of Jain religion to shed much light on the temples and its history. The southern group consist of a set of three temples, Duladeo,Chaturbhuja and Bijamandala.Grooms visit the Duladeo temples on their way to their wedding and later return with their newly wife to pay respect to this Shiva temple. Chaturbhuja temple is the only temple in Khajuraho that does not have any erotic sculptures. Bijamandala temple is another Shiva temple that houses a marble lingam. The whole tour took about 5 hours and even if it wasn't so tiring , I decided that it was enough activity for this day. I spent rest of the afternoon in my room watching tv and avoiding the high temperatures outside. My dinner was back at the hotel and one of the best meals to date. I totally enjoyed the thali style meal. I was on my third week of no meat and I slightly missed it but could still do with out it for some more time.
I had a train to catch to Agra this evening and see the Western group of temples. I decided to check out the temples before getting ready to check out at noon. There is a entrance fee for the western group, I used my Indian discount and paid 10 rupees instead of the 250 rupees for foreigners. These temples are amazingly beautiful and plenty of erotic sculptures. The tour started with the small Varaha temple that houses the statue of a Vishnus incarnation as a Varaha. The Lakshmana temple took 20 years to build and is quiet large with some very small erotic figures inside. There is also a erotic figure of a man and a house, which is very interesting. The Kandariya - Mahadev temple is the biggest temple and showcases female beauty and sexual aerobics. Sometimes the figures were in a sequence of male and female foreplay and then progressing to sexual intercourse. Female with female, female with an animal, female with two males or a group of females performing erotic scenes are all craved out on these temples. some figures have been ruined and most them are missing some body parts. Only a few fully intact figures remain and looks like the temples are undergoing a restoration.
This is definitely a world heritage site and I personally hope that every possible step is taken to conserve this legendary art. There were 85 original temples of which only 25 remain.The pictures on my Facebook are well worth a look as I have tried my best to capture all that I could while here. Its almost time for me to bid farewell to Khajuraho and make my way to Jaipur, Rajasthan.
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