Khajuraho Group of Monuments

The Khajuraho Group of Monuments, located in the Chhatarpur district of Madhya Pradesh, India, consists of Hindu and Digambara Jain temples. These structures are renowned for their Nagara-style architecture and a limited number of erotic carvings. The site lies roughly 46 kilometers from Chhatarpur city, 283 kilometers from Gwalior, 175 kilometers southeast of Jhansi, 10 kilometers from Khajwa, and 9 kilometers from Rajnagar.

The Chandela dynasty built most of these temples between 885 CE and 1000 CE. By the 12th century, historical records indicate that the complex originally contained 85 temples spread over 20 square kilometers. Today, only about 25 temples remain, covering six square kilometers. Among the survivors, the Kandariya Mahadeva Temple stands out for its dense, intricate sculptures that showcase detail, symbolism, and the expressiveness of ancient Indian art. The site was forgotten and overgrown until 1838, when British engineer Captain T.S. Burt rediscovered it and published his findings in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal.

During the temples’ construction, local boys lived in hermitages as celibate brahmacharyas until adulthood, and the sculptures were intended to teach them about the worldly role of a householder. Although built together, the temples were dedicated to two faiths—Hinduism and Jainism—reflecting a tradition of religious tolerance in the region. Due to their outstanding architecture, variety of temple forms, and testimony to the Chandela civilization, the monuments were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1986.

The name Khajuraho, or Kharjuravāhaka, comes from Sanskrit: *kharjura* means date palm, and *vāhaka* means “one who carries.” Local legends say the temples once had two golden date-palm trees as gates, which were missing when the site was rediscovered. Scholar Desai notes that Kharjuravāhaka can also mean “scorpion bearer,” a symbolic name for the deity Shiva, who wears snakes and scorpions in his fierce form. In the 1850s and 1860s, Alexander Cunningham’s naming and systematic documentation became widely adopted; he grouped the temples into the Western group (around Lakshmana), the Eastern group (around Javeri), and the Southern group (around Duladeva).

The monuments are situated in Chhatarpur district, about 620 kilometers southeast of New Delhi, near the small town of Khajuraho, which had a population of roughly 24,481 in the 2011 census. The site is served by Khajuraho Civil Aerodrome (IATA: HJR), with flights to Delhi, Agra, Varanasi, and Mumbai, and by Indian Railways via a station about six kilometers from the monuments. They lie about ten kilometers off National Highway 75 and about 50 kilometers from Chhatarpur city, which connects to Bhopal via National Highway 86. The 10th-century Bhand Deva Temple in Rajasthan, built in a similar style, is often called “Little Khajuraho.”

Construction began soon after the Chandela dynasty rose to power in what later became known as Bundelkhand. Most temples were built under Hindu kings Yashovarman and Dhanga. Yashovarman’s legacy is best seen in the Lakshmana Temple, while Dhanga’s reign is highlighted by the Vishvanatha Temple. The largest and most famous surviving temple, Kandariya Mahadeva, was built under King Vidyadhara. Inscriptions suggest many surviving temples were completed between 970 and 1030 CE, with more finished in later decades. The temples were built about 35 miles from the Chandela capital of Mahoba in the Kalinjar region, a kingdom referred to in ancient texts as Jijhoti, Jejahoti, Chih-chi-to, or Jejakabhukti.

The first documented mention of Khajuraho comes from 641 CE, when Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang described several inactive Buddhist monasteries and a dozen Hindu temples with a thousand worshipping brahmins. In 1022 CE, Persian historian Abu Rihan-al-Biruni, accompanying Mahmud of Ghazni’s raid on Kalinjar, noted Khajuraho as the capital of Jajahuti. The raid failed, ending with a ransom paid by the Hindu king. The temples remained in active use until the late 12th century. In the 13th century, the army of the Delhi Sultanate under Qutb-ud-din Aibak attacked and seized the Chandela kingdom. Around a century later, Moroccan traveler Ibn Battuta visited the temples (calling them “Kajarra”) and wrote that yogis with long matted locks lived near the mutilated idols, and many Muslims came to learn yoga from them. From the 13th to the 18th century, various Muslim dynasties controlled the region; some temples were desecrated, followed by a long period of neglect.