Khajuraho
Thanks to Dominique, who came to Delhi and looked after Ruben, and Bhai Duj holiday, we took a few days off traveling with Eric.
Our program was to go to Khajuraho, a small village - of 15000 inhabitants, but still very much a village- for two days, and then spend two days in Varanasi, a big, crowded, busy city. Quite a trip.
Khajuraho is famous for its hindu temples from the 10th-12th century. They are among the few historical hindu temples in northen india which are well preserved and escaped destruction by the muslim sultans, supposedly because they became lost in the jungle.
The temples are exquisitely carved, with rows of elephants, then gods and godesses, apsaras, and legendary animals, and finally geometric patterns all the way to the top.
Apsaras inside a temple.
A famous characteristic of the temples are erotic scenes among the sculptures, and funky ones at that.
Kandariya Mahadev temple.
The main site is the 'Western group' of temples, but there are other small temples scattered in the countryside. We rented bycicles to visit them, which also took us through interesting and narrow village lanes.
Javari temple, on the eastern side.
A group of Jain temples, mixing old historical temples and modern ones.
The next morning, we rode to the southern group of temples. Here, Duladeo temple. These smaller and remote temples were quite nice and all had some interesting features.
A beautiful idol in Chaturbhuja temple.
We stopped by a nicely decorated house, and chatted with a friendly family.
Riding through the countryside was exhilarating, especially after a couple of months of Delhi-life.
Our last stop: Bijamandala, a recently excavated site.
Back to the city.
And to our nice hotel with temple view...
Our program was to go to Khajuraho, a small village - of 15000 inhabitants, but still very much a village- for two days, and then spend two days in Varanasi, a big, crowded, busy city. Quite a trip.
Khajuraho is famous for its hindu temples from the 10th-12th century. They are among the few historical hindu temples in northen india which are well preserved and escaped destruction by the muslim sultans, supposedly because they became lost in the jungle.
The temples are exquisitely carved, with rows of elephants, then gods and godesses, apsaras, and legendary animals, and finally geometric patterns all the way to the top.
A famous characteristic of the temples are erotic scenes among the sculptures, and funky ones at that.
Javari temple, on the eastern side.
A group of Jain temples, mixing old historical temples and modern ones.
The next morning, we rode to the southern group of temples. Here, Duladeo temple. These smaller and remote temples were quite nice and all had some interesting features.
A beautiful idol in Chaturbhuja temple.
We stopped by a nicely decorated house, and chatted with a friendly family.
Riding through the countryside was exhilarating, especially after a couple of months of Delhi-life.
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