Bare asses, melon-breasted ladies, and entwined lovers entice
tourists to central India’s Khajuraho. But these sexy scenes are nothing new.
In fact, they’re between 800 and 1,000 years old.
The temples are often, erroneously, called Kama Sutra temples. The
erotic carvings only compose about ten percent of the elaborately detailed
imagery that covers all sides of the temples remaining in Khajuraho, but of
course draw the majority of the attention. The other carvings depict daily
scenes of musicians and farmers, women applying makeup, warriors preparing for
battle, as well as numerous Hindu deities.
The erotic sculptures themselves shine a light on a couple
of basic truths:
- apparently sex has always been what sells
- ancient Indian culture was clearly far less conservative about sexual matters than today’s India
- men throughout history have thought that breasts should be bizarrely cantaloupe-shaped
But even without the draw of sexy statues, Khajuraho’s
temples are awe-inspiring. All of the carvings, in their dusty pinks, are surprisingly
well-preserved. The time and effort that must have been lavished on these
buildings, built over the course of 200 years, is evident in the minute
attention to detail. Gods and humans carved from slabs of sandstone are
exquisite, even after a millennium.
Absolutely astonishing, the things humans are capable of
creating.
