I’ve had a really quiet day today holed up in the house doing menial tasks like cleaning my office space, defragging the computer catching up on uni stuff. My psoriasis has flard up which means I’m overtired and stressed, nothing new there I already knew that and the best medicine is to take it easy and unwind. I’ve been in an unsociable mood todayand relatively braindead. I had all this stuff planned to do but I’ve not been motivated. Just tired. I made a huge hut for the kids tonight and the little one is all camped out on a mattress in the middle of it snoring. Hehe.
Some of the stuff I have been discovering via Art History lectures has been fascinating stuff. I quite often come home and go and research a little more of what I have been told during the lectures. I fell across these images and kinda went ‘wow’. The Khajuraho Temples in Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh, India. Carved way back in the 11th century and famous for it’s erotic frenzies and sculptures is most definitely a place you should have on your world sightseeing ‘must sees’. There’s a whole pile of them and apparently it took about 200 years to complete them all. The walls are adorned in amazing carved sculptures of erotic imagery.
These temples, were 85 in number originally, but today only 22 of them are surviving. Today this site is recognised as a world heritage site and the true representation of the Medieval architecture. Just amazing. Considered as the descendant of the moon, the legend says that this temple was the outcome of the fantasy of the founder of the Chandela dynasty, in which his mother instructed him to build the temple that would reveal human passions and as a result, bring out the realisation of emptiness of the human desires.
The story goes that Hemavati, the mother of the first Chandela ruler, was the beautiful daughter of a Brahmin priest and was aroused by the moon god. This unison between the mortal and the immortal, led to the birth of a boy, Chandravarman. This unwed mother went to live in a forest to save her of humiliations. She played the role of a mother as well as teacher and fostered her son into the future king. Chandarvarman, began the construction of the temple and was completed by his successors.
The sculptures of the temples revolves around the varied moods of women. There are sculptures that depict the actions of women in every aspect. Be it decorating herself, or playing with her children. The dominant ones are the seductive and indefinitely beauties divas of the bygone times. These sculptures showcase the combination of the sensual pleasures while performing the duties of facsimile of the new world. These stages of life are considered to be instrumental in leading a person towards Moksha (Salvation).
The presence of erotic art in temples was normal back then and nothing is licentious or bad about it as people saw it as a symbol of fertility. After looking at these I am starting to wonder if people were hellishly kinky way back then hehe … have a look for yourself …
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