Dream Trip 2009

Great Travel Moment

Khajuraho is famous for its complex of 10th and 11th C temples built by the Chandellas. They are built of sandstone blocks, individually exquisitely carved, at various levels with abstract designs at the top, then tiers of asparas (dancers), musicians, lovers, gods and goddesses, with a band of everyday life at the bottom, hunts, wars, and the Kama Sutra. The guide could have been Peter Sellers doing his Indian accent. It was all I could do to keep a straight face especially when he threw in a few suggestive comments on the more extreme positions. The carvings were beautiful, details of hair, sari patterns, musculature captured, anatomically complete, albeit exaggerated in the erotica. This pair of owls had made their nest in the Jain Adinath Temple, oblivious to the décor.