2. Human Life: Sexuality and Spirituality

Religion and sexuality are the two interconnected aspects of life in most of the world cultures. In the Indian context, it is a remarkable one.

Here is a quote from A. L. Basham.

“The literature of Hindu India, both religious and secular, is full of sexual allusions, sexual symbolism, and passages of frank eroticism. The preoccupation with such themes increased in the middle ages, when the process of cosmic creation was figured as the union of god and goddess, and images of closely embracing couple (Maithuna) were carved on the walls of temples. Some religious sects even introduced ritual intercourse as part of their cult and a potent aid to salvation. But the exaggerated sexual religiosity of the later Middle Ages was only an expression of the vigorous sexuality which was to be found in Indian social life at all times. Sexual activity was indeed a positive religious duty, for the husband was told to have intercourse with his wife within a period of eight days at the close of every menstruation” (1986: 172).

“The devotional religiosity that first emerged in the sixth century in the south and then went from strength to become the dominant form of Hindu religious expression all over the country. Bhakti’s principal mood has always been erotic, extolling, possessing and being possessed by the god as its ideal state. Here, religion is not an enemy of erotic sentiment but its ally. Even the highest of gods delights in the many hues of sexuality as much as mortals” (Sudhir Kakar, 2011: 168).

The sculptures of Khajuraho, Konark and other medieval Indian temples as also the erotic transports of Bhakti poetry, then, do not need fanciful explanations. They are the art of and for an energetic and erotic people. As we look back over the centuries, the Indians of a bygone era were involved in the metaphysical questions raised by death. Yet they did not let the search for answers for such questions to dominate the living of their lives; nor do they withdraw from life’s possible joys because of the probable sorrows.

Khajuraho represents the attitude of a people who, as Vātsyāyana remarked centuries earlier, have doubts about the rewards of austerities and an ascetic way of life and believe that:

“Better a dove today than a peacock tomorrow” (Sudhir Kakar, 2011: 168-169).

It has been observed that the Indian attitude towards life is mainly based on sexual pleasure. Basically, the sexual pleasure is the topmost level of human happiness and all manly efforts are aimed to sustain that pleasure in various ways. Man transforms his experience of pleasure through the medium of devotion to a particular god. The erotic art creations carved in the temple walls communicates this undoubtedly.