A few weeks back I had asked a young student of a public school whether he knew who the Chandela's were. He had expressed his ignorance, though he was well aware of the Kutab Minar, Kutabdin Aibek and Mohammed of Ghazni. This ignorance of Indian history is not surprising as the policy of the Congress party has always been to negate the contribution of Hindus to the composite Indian culture. Thus history text books talk more of Mughals and others than about the Hindu warriors and rulers. For an assessment of the Indian Hindu kings one has perforce to read the English historians.
The temples of Khujaraho are temples embellished with erotic images of men and women in group and single sex. These temples were built by the Chandelas, who were powerful Rajput rulers of Central India, an area known as Bundlekhand. They held sway over this region from about the 9th to the 13th century. They were powerful rulers and they also repulsed the attack of Mahommed of Ghazni. In fact Mahommed of Ghazni, shrewd soldier as he was avoided a direct combat with the Chandela king popularly known as Raja Bhoj. The initial capital of the Chandela kings was Khujaraho and they carried out all their constructions here.
The Chandela kings built about 85 temples dedicated to Hindu and Jain gods. After the dynasty ceased to rule the temples went into disuse, known only to the locals. These men kept the temple location a secret as they feared that they would be destroyed by the Muslims , who had at that time become the rulers of India. This fear was justified, for I have seen a similar carnage by Mohammed of Ghazni at the temple at Chouthan, close to Barmer in Rajasthan. The Chouthan temple is on a hill and at one time had lovely figures of nude men and women. It appears Mohammed was offended and broke each and every sculpture. The broken images can still be seen today.
What to talk of Mohammed of Ghazni, the Indian national leader Mahatma Gandhi also wanted these images to be destroyed. This now appears silly and shows that Gandhi was basically a politician and self styled Mahatma. He had no comprehension of art.
The temples remained in oblivion, till the British Raj came. There is a mention of these temples in the writings of Ibn Battuta who reportedly visited the place in 1322 and Abu al Riham Baruni who visited this place in 1022. One can thus surmise that these temples took over 200 years to be built. The temples over centuries went into decay, till they were discovered by a British engineer named TS Burt. He was an Army engineering officer. India must forever remain indebted to Burt for this discovery and his subsequent efforts to salvage the temples. For the record about 24 of the original temples were restored and today are part of the Indian glorious heritage. It is also a world heritage site as declared by UNESCO.
The temples are unique as they represent the earthy nature of man and woman and also lend credence to the tantric concept of a sexual union as a path to Moksha or salvation. This is something that is not easy to understand and I am afraid 80% of the Indian Hindus, do not know the significance of these figures carved in stone depicting men and women in single and multiple sexual unions. Many still like to think like Gandhi, who abhorred them, but enlightened Indians and most western men and women are understanding the deep philosophy of these temple images. The images represent the Gods and the Hindu philosophy that sex and god are almost together. The western world is now realising the true significance of Hinduism.
A description of the temples can be found in any book and many images are available on the net. What we will discuss here is the deep philosophy that these images contain. Hinduism is beaten with a rod for its ills of caste and untouchability among other things. However these are superficial things and they served a purpose at that time. The fault is that they were persisted with. Even in the west there was a caste as the names Smith, Carpenter signify. The west got over it, but vested interests led by the Congress party institutionalized it. There is a need for the people to learn about the deep philosophy that Hinduism brings forth. Here is a religion that shows a road to God through many paths. Hinduism also accepts an all-mighty and the other devas and gods are only ancillary to the one and only super mighty being, the Akal.
Hinduism realized the nature of man and the inherent energy hidden in a sex act. If channelized, it can work wonders and I do recollect when I was at the Ashram of Swami Shraddanand, he had mentioned that through the sex act one can even learn about the past birth. This is tantra the age old Hindu concept of reaching god through a union between a man and a woman. So many Indians denigrate this thought. This is sad as there is a lot of truth in it and I am told many western men and women are now deeply influenced by tantra.
The temples at Khujaraho are a delight and for the serious student and a lover these are worth visiting, The Chandela kings thought that these acts of sex brought a man and a woman closer to god, hence the carvings are on the temple walls. There are thousands of them and the women are all buxom and nude, wearing only ornaments. They took hundreds of years to carve under guidance of a man with a lot of knowledge. Let us thank god that these temples have survived for a thousand years. Let us also thank the British TS Burt who saved these temples. Come to think of it , India owes a lot to English rule and one shudders to think ,what would have happened if Pax Brittanica had not ruled India. This is the refrain of Nirad C Choudhry the most celebrated of Indian English writers.
Visiting Khujaraho is easy as it is connected by air to Delhi and Varanasi and Patna. I wonder why no city of MP is connected to Khujaraho? This is another mystery !