We were looking at some of the monuments in Khajuraho in our earlier post. This post explores some of the temples around the historic town .

Vishvanatha Temple – This is the third largest temple, others are Lakshmana and Kandariya Mahadeva, at Khajuraho. This was built by king Dhangadeva in AD 999. The inscription at the temple talks about the two Shiva lingam installed by king Dhangadeva, one lingam of stone and another of emerald. The temple was known as Markateshvara, the lord of emerald, at that time. The emerald lingam was missing when the temple was rediscovered. As per the inscription, the architect of the temple was Sutradhara Chhichchha, who was well versed in Vishvakarma architectural tradition.

Two elephants are placed at the entrance of the temple on southern end and two lions at northern end. The temple is constructed on high raised jagati (platform) which is approached by a fleet of steps. This temple has mukha-mandapa (porch), mandapa (assembly hall), maha-mandapa (dance hall) with transepts, antarala (vestibule), garbha-griha (sanctum) with ambulatory around it. This is a sandhara temple This is the only temple at Khajuraho which had a Nandi pavilion in front of the temple. Originally this temple was a pancha-yatna (five shrines complex), like Lakshmana, however only two subsidiary shrines have survived. This temple is a sandhara temple, with ambulatory around its sanctum. Khajuraho’s earlier representation theme of an apsara removing the scorpion from her body can be seen here on sanctum wall. The niches of the sanctum wall has Shiva’s manifestations: 1) Andhakantaka, subduing Anadhaka demon, 2) Nataraja, cosmic dancer, and 3) Ardh-nareeshwar, half-male and half-female representation.

This was the first temple at Khajuraho where we see the peculiar arrangement of sapta-matrikas around the exterior walls of the temple. These are placed in counter-circumambulatory manner. The similar arrangement was later adopted in Kandariya Mahadeva temple.

Nandi Shrine – This pavilion faces Vishvanatha temple and houses Nandi, the mount of Shiva. This square pavilion is supported on twelve pillars. The Nandi image is 2.2 m long and 1.8 m high. The pyramidal roof of receding tiers of pidhas with an almost plain circular ceiling of overlapping courses.

New Temple – This is a very new temple at the site which was built by Maharaja of Chhatarpur some hundred years back. There is noting of much interest in this construction except the dome of the roof. This dome indicates the Muslim elements in the construction.

This the end of Western group of temples inside the ASI enclosure. Now we will see temples around this group in near vicinity.

Statue of Bhairava – Out of the above enclosed compound, on the way to Matangeshwara Temple, stands a 1.98 m high colossal statue of Bhairava. It is coated in red lead and is still in worship today. From the architecture style, this statue seems to be of early-tenth century. In 1865, Cunningham wrote that the statue was found while digging for stones to build a cenotaph for Pratap Singh, Maharaja of Chhatarpur.

Matangeshwara Temple – This temple is out of western group enclosure, situated by south of Lakshmana Temple. This is the main temple in Khajuraho which is still in use. This has one of the largest Shiva Lingam, 2.53 m and one meter in diameter, in India. The external walls of the temple are simple without any images. The roof is pyramidal and from style of architecture, it is dated to 10th century by art historians.

Chausath Yogini Temple – Walking along the Shivsagar Tank towards the village, you will find this unique open sanctuary temple. This was dedicated to the Chausath (sixty-four) Yoginis, goddesses. Unlike other temples at Khajuraho, which are built in fine sandstone, this temple is constructed with granite stone. This is considered as one of the oldest temple at Khajuraho by scholars, dated to AD 900. The sanctuary located on low rocky mount, contained sixty-seven cells, out of which only thirty-five have survived. One cell is larger than all others. Each of smaller cells were for sixty-four Yoginis, while the central larger one for Durga-Mahishasuramardini, inscribed with label ‘Hinghalaja’. When Major Cunningham visited this sanctuary, he found three images in situ, the goddess Hinghalaja in the principal cell and the two Matrikas Brahmani and Maheshwari in the cells flanking it. These images are now in the museum at the site. This temple is the earliest Yogini shrine in India. It is different from other shrines as this is constructed on square plan instead of circular plan of other similar temples.

Lalguan Mahadeva Temple – This shrine is situated on the bank of the Lalguansagar lake. The way to find the temple is not that easy so get help from local people as this shrine is located deep inside the village, about half a kilometer from Chausath Yogini temple. This is a west facing temple with a simple plan consisting a sanctum and a porch. The porch is now more there now. This shrine is dated after Chausath Yogini, dated AD 900-925. This temple is also constructed with granite stone, like Chausath Yogini.

Shivsagar Tank – This is the main tank at Khajuraho and possibly the same large lake as mentioned by traveler Ibn Battuta in AD 1335.

The Eastern Group of Temples
These temples are about 4-5 km from the western group of temples. You can either take an auto rickshaw, bicycle or a taxi to visit these monuments.

Hanuman Temple – On the way to Jain temples from Gol Market, this newly built, white washed shrine houses one of the earliest inscribed images of Hanuman in India. This 2.5 m high image has short dedicatory inscription of 316 of possibly Harsha era (AD 922), the oldest inscription of Khajuraho.

Brahma Temple – This temple, of simple plan and design, is situated at the banks of Khajursagar lake. It currently houses a four-faced lingam and thus mistakenly called as Brahma temple because of four heads. However the temple was dedicated to Vishnu as the image in center of the door lintel. This temple is constructed with granite stone, except its pyramidal roof which is constructed in sandstone. The main door has images of Ganga and Yamuna on either side, a typical architecture motif of Gupta’s time. This temple is dated to AD 925.

Vamana Temple – Located some 200 meters to the north-east of Brahma Temple, this temple was built between AD 1050 and 1075, enshrines Vamana, dwarf incarnation of Vishnu. This is an important temple as there are not many temples in India dedicated to this form of Vishnu. This is a nirandhara temple, no ambulatory around its sanctum. It has a sapta-ratha or seven-projection sanctum, antarala, maha-mandapa with transepts, mukha-mandapa. The sikhara, tower, of the temple is not encumbered by subsidiary sikharas and is embellished with a fretwork of chaitya arches. In contrast to local temples, erotic scenes are absent in this temple. The main niches of the sanctum contains , in lower row, Vaishnava images of Varaha, Narasimha and Vamana.

Javari Temple – Located about 200 meters south of Vamana Temple, this temple is dedicated to Vishnu as well. It is called ‘Javari’, due to ‘javara’ (millet) growing in nearby fields. This is a nirandhara temple consisting of sanctum, anatarala, mandapa and mukha-mandapa. This temple is an architectural gem and indeed remarkable for its ornate and slender makar-torana and soaring outline of sikhara.This temple was constructed in between AD 1075 and 1100.

Ghantai Temple – This Jain temple is commonly known as ‘Ghantai’ because of chain-and-bell motifs carved on the pillars of the temple. The walls of the temple have collapsed, what only remained are the pillars of the mandapa and its ornate ceiling, lintel and doors. According to historian Krishna Deva, its pillars are ‘among the finest pillars of medieval India, known for their stately form, restrained ornamentation, and classical dignity’. If this shrine would have been preserved then it would have been the grandest temple at Khajuraho. There are sixteen auspicious symbols of the dream of Jina’s mother on the upper lintel. The centre of the main lintel represents the Jain goddess Chakreshvari riding Garuda, which suggested that the shrine was dedicated to Adinatha.

The last and concluding part of this series will showcase some of the jain temples and the temples in the southern group .