The Temples of Khajuraho

Destination: Khajuraho, India

Travel guidebook summary

The magnificent 10th-12th century Hindu temples of Khajuraho — with their soaring towers and engaging sculptures — represent the pinnacle of the North India temple style. Explore this enchanting north Indian site with our guidebook.

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★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Essential for your visit!
This guidebook provides invaluable information not only about this UNESCO World Heritage site, but also on the historical and architectural context so one can more fully appreciate these temples.

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Message from the author

“Khajuraho is special, not only for its beautiful tantric sculptures, but also because it holds the finest extant examples of the north Indian Hindu temple style (rivaled only by those in the Odisha region). So, with this guidebook, we chose to focus on how this style of temple is unique and how it evolved over time.”

Jennifer Raezer | Founder & Author, Approach Guides

Khajuraho: About this Guidebook

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Invaluable insights

Richly detailed with powerful images

Historical context

In-depth and engaging information

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Guidebook details

Guidebook Description

The magnificent 10th-12th century Hindu temples of Khajuraho — with their soaring towers and engaging sculptures — represent the pinnacle of the North Indian temple style. Still infused with their historical magic, they are yours to discover.

What’s in this guidebook

Art and architecture review. We provide an overview of Hindu architecture, isolating trademark features that you will see again and again while touring Khajuraho’s temples. To make things come alive, we have packed our review with high-resolution images.
The Khajuraho style. We then turn our focus to the temples of Khajuraho, highlighting the architectural advancements that were undertaken to make them the culmination of the North Indian temple style. To help travelers understand the groundbreaking nature of these advancements, we compare the temples of Khajuraho with those in the neighboring state of Orissa.
Tour of the highlights. Following our tradition of being the most valuable resource for culture-focused travelers, we offer a tour of Khajuraho’s premier temples: Lakshmana, Vishvanatha, Chitragupta, Devi Jagadambi, and Kandariya Mahadeva. For each, we reveal its most important architectural and decorative features and offer a discussion that ties it all together.
The reliefs. Since the inevitable highlight of any visit to Khajuraho is seeing the famous erotic reliefs that adorn its temples’ walls, we reveal their stylistic features, their symbolism, and the religious philosophy of Tantra that likely inspired them.
Advice for getting the best cultural experience. To help you plan your visit, this guidebook supplies logistical advice, maps and links to online resources. Plus, we give our personal tips for getting the most from your experience while on location.
Information the way you like it. As with all of our guides, this book is optimized for intuitive, quick navigation; information is organized into bullet points to make absorption easy; and images are marked up with text that explains important features.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Basics of Hindu Architecture

History of Indian Temple Building
Understanding a Hindu Temple
Architecture
Decoration

North and South Indian Temples Compared

North Indian (Nagara) Temple Style
South Indian (Dravidian) Temple Style

Khajuraho’s Temples

Background
Pinnacle of North Indian Temple Style

Reliefs and Sculptures

Style and Types
Erotic Reliefs – History and Meaning

Tour of Western Group Temples

1. Lakshmana
2. Vishvanatha
3. Chitragupta
4. Devi Jagadambi
5. Kandariya Mahadeva

Featured Southern Group Temple: Chaturbhuj

Our Recommendations

Where to Stay, Eat and Shop
Packing List

Additional Info