Temples of Khajuraho

Khajuraho represents the most refined and finished manifestation of the Northern or Indo-Aryan or the Nāgara style of Hindu Architecture. Its stability and elegance arc equally remarkable. It is really a pity that the temple could have been deserted for long and neglected for any temple-ritual for several centuries. Situated in the region of Bundelkhand (State of Chattarpur) a hundred miles south-east of the town of Jhansi, these temples are over thirty in number. Khajuraho temples seem to be a very matured performance, as unlike Orissan temples they do not illustrate a development over a long period of time.

Epigraphical evidences show that they were all erected within the relatively narrow interval of a hundred years, from about A.D. 950 to 1050. Brown therefore very aptly observes:

“There is however another outstanding feature on this central zone of the temple exterior, a decorative motif and one which fills in the wall spaces between the openings mentioned above. I his takes the form of two and sometimes three, parallel friezes, conjoined and following the alternate projections and recesses of the walls and carried round the entire building. Peopled with groups of statuary moulded in high relief, and in dimensions rather less than half life site, these friezes present a moving pageant and never-ending procession of lifelike forms, shapely in appearance, exquisite in workmanship and of inexhaustible interest. One temple alone, that of the Kandariya Mahadeo, the figures thus depicted are six hundred and fifty in number, and each building accommodates a similar community in proportion to its size. (Plate LXX1X). Some of the figures are apparently ideal human beings while others are divine personages, but all are in elegant attitudes and some are posed with a Hellenic grace recalling the rhythmic forms on a classic vase. Unlike the sombre saints who look down from Gothic niches, those on the wails of the Khajuraho temples are of a warm and gladsome nature, living in a happy golden age, when time was one long sequence of pleasureable experiences. With such an animated throng ever present on these structures it is not remarkable that the architecture pulsates with a human vitality not ordinarily found in the building art.”

Khajuraho represents a land mark in religious history of Northern India. As at Ellora so at this place, Śaivism, Vaiṣṇavism and Jainism all have their monuments, These temples are the outcome of the benevolent munificence of the Chandela Rajas.

Temple Architecture of Khajuraho has a definitely individual character. Its only affinity if there is any, rests with that graceful construction, the Rājarānī temple al Bhuvaneśvara. The Dravidian influence on the Orissan temples is fairly perceptible not only in the planning of the temple enclosure but also in raising the Vimāna. The Prākāra walls and Dhvajastambhas are all full of this influence. The Khajuraho temples on the other hand may be classed as Jagatī-Prāsādas in the terminology of the Samarāṅgaṇa Sūtradhāra as instead of being contained within the customary enclosure wall each stands on a high and solid masonry terrace. On the broad platform thus produced each temple has been erected not as a number of conjoined buildings, as is the case with Dravidian and Orissan temples, but as a unified structure, all its parts so incorporated as to form a compact architectural synthesis. Secondly none of them is of any great size, the largest is only slightly over a hundred feet in length, so that they are by no means imposing edifices, but they rely for their appearance in their elegant proportions, graceful contours and rich surface treatment. Thirdly these temples are notable for their simpler designs, the whole edifice is divided into three main compartments namely the cell or garbhagṛha, an assembly hall or maṇḍapa and an entrance portico or ardha-maṇḍapa. Supplementing these, are the antarāla or vestibule to the cella and in the more developed examples, the transcepts or mahā-maṇḍapas, together with a processional passage around the cella. Fourthly unlike the Orissan type which is pyramidal, the Khajuraho roofs are domical in contour and therefore rightly represent the best and the most faithful illustrations of the Śikharottama Prāsādas of our Vāstuśāstras. Further the touchstone of the Indo-Aryan or Northern or more properly the Nāgara type of temple is the design of the spire and the examples of this dominating feature at Khajuraho are the most refined and elegant of their kind.

The Vāstuśāstra nomenclature of Śikhara as Mañjarī is perfectly portrayed here.

“The graceful shape of these Śikharas has been effected in two ways, on the one hand by the subtle lineaments of the main curves, and on the other by the rhythmic disposal of the subsidiary members attached to them. It is only necessary to compare the Khajuraho form of Śikhara with the Orissan type to realize the beauty of the former with its flowing profile. In the first place the contours at Khajuraho are more taut and tenuous, the tampo of the lines is accelerated as they mount up in a more decided incline. But the principal refinement is obtained by the design and distribution of the miniature turrets or urusringas, which it was the practice to superimpose on the sides to break up the mass”.

Fifthly contrasting with the excessively plain treatment of the Orissan interiors, the halls, of the Khajuraho temples are richly decorated with sculpture. As regards the exterior decorations they have no parallel. There at Khajuraho the Mythology has mingled with Metaphysics and a good many symbolisms, if worked out, must illustrate the back ground throwing side lights on the real significance of Prāsāda-mūrti according to our Śāstras where the Prāsāda, the Hindu Temple has been viewed as Puruṣa-mūrti.

With this general introduction to the general characteristics of Khajuraho temples let us dwell a little more on their grouping and individual craftmanship:

“The main group of temples at Khajuraho, consisting of at least a dozen buildings, is that to the north-west of the site, where they are arranged in two lines, with both Vaishnavite and Sivaite [Shaivite?] shrines standing side by side. In some instances the dedication is a matter of doubt, while the designation of a few may have been subsequently changed. Each of these two lines of structure consists of one large temple, with others slightly smaller alongside, and, for the purposes of the study, each has been given a serial number. The largest of the entire series is the Śiva temple of Kandariya Mahadeo (No. 3) the first of the most westerly line, ānd its dimensions are 109 feet in length, 60 feet in width externally, with a height of 116½ feet above the ground or 88 feet above its own floor. Its plan is that of a double-armed cross, as not only is it provided with transcepts to the maṇḍapa, but it has another pair with windows to give light to the processional passage, while there is also a similar aperture for illuminating this corridor in the rear. The compartments of the interior are six in number consisting of the portico, main hall, transepts, vestibule, sanctum, and ambulatory.”

Other temples may be passed over. There are two other temples at Khajaraho planned on the same principle as the Kandariya, with double transcepts, but they are both one sixth less in size.

These are the Śiva temple of Vishvanath (No. 7) and the Viṣṇu temple of Chaturbhuj.

“The Jain temples grouped together on the south-east of the site are some six in number, in varying states of preservation, and as a whole their architectural character differs but little from the Brahmanical examples.”