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Album: By Country | By Date India | May 2001 < Prev: Around Khajuraho | Next: Khajuraho's West Temples >
Travelogue: By Country | By Date India | May 2001  

May 2001 - Khajuraho's Jain Temples

The Jain Temples (and the Southern Temples) are free and very peaceful. We wandered around, discussed temple architecture and sculpture styles, and watched kids swim in the river

Duncan and friend The main temples in the Eastern Group are Jain temples. This image of Adinath is said to be from 1028. This is not the traditional red carpet. These long mats of various colors are often placed in temples, where visitors must go barefoot, so you don't burn the bottoms of your feet off.
More images. On the left is a Jain monk or guru. Monks have few possessions, some eshewing clothes and carrying only a broom to sweep the path before them so they don't step on any livng creatures The other Jain temples are older. It is difficult to discern, at least from the outside, that these temples are Jain as opposed to Hindu temples. This is a typical sculpture group for the Khajuraho temples. One guidebook marvels that the kings of the Chandela could build somewhere around 85 temples between 950 to 1050. Perhaps the secret was mass production. There are many many images on each of the temples that we visited but generally the individual pieces are virtually identical. Every now and then, there is a different pose or a particularly well-executed version of a standard pose. Despite the repetition, the sculptures are lovely and seen together rather unbelievable.
One of the classic poses is the woman (or female nymph) plucking a thorn from her foot. The Adinath temple This image is typically Jain
Part of the Parvanath Temple. It was interesting to compare the sculptures on this temple with those on the Adinath. These seemed more fluid and attractive, though they follow the same patterns. Weird bottled water gargoyle
Water pots Water pots Flower offerings at Duladeo Temple, one of the Southern temples. From the steps of the temple, which was down a nice quiet dirt path, we watched kids swimming in the river. One of the most pleasant spots we've visited. The lingam at Duladeo. The base is yoni-shaped
Brooms at Duladeo The sculptures here include some mithuna couples.