Khajuraho—A Backwater Town with a Lot of Titillating Temples

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Our overnight train from Varanasi was pleasant—we met two well-traveled English brothers and enjoyed their company. In addition to the English brothers, there also happened to be a large group of people speaking a Slavic language (we thought Russian). But not only were they speaking it—they started singing Russian folk songs while passing around what we could only assume was vodka. It was probably our most random experience in India (and that’s saying something)—a set each of American and English siblings listening to Russians cheerfully singing folk songs as we took a train across Uttar Pradesh into Madhya Pradesh.

Once we arrived in Khajuraho at 6am, we attempted to negotiate a good price to our hotel by tuk-tuk. In retrospect, we should have stuck with the brothers, but they hadn’t yet booked a hotel, so they weren’t sure where they were going yet. As it turned out, we found ourselves crammed into a tuk-tuk with 8 other people plus our bags. The train station and the town were generally full of touts, despite it being so small. The town’s economy thrives on tourism, so I can understand, but it was hard to deal with at the time. However, our hotel was a nice sanctuary with a garden.

We went to see 3 different sets of temples while we were there. You have to pay to see the biggest group, and it was a short walk from our hotel, so that was convenient. The area was well-landscaped, and inside the complex it was peaceful, and not too crowded. The main draw of these temples is that there are erotic sculptures, along with a good number of sculptures of busty women as well. The curiosity is that this has always been a small town in the middle of nowhere, so no one really knows why three different religions built temple complexes, each with some erotic sculptures, there.

Sure, it was fun to see the provocative ones, but the sheer number and detail of all the sculptures and temples was incredible as well. Something I thought throughout my India travels was the impressiveness of architecture and details that were created before we had electricity and tools. However, when you see the ones that haven’t yet been restored, you realize that it takes work to keep everything looking good.

In addition to the main temple group, we also biked to two other free complexes. We rented bikes and crawled our way to the temples. I accept responsibility for taking forever because I’m a bit apprehensive about bikes, especially in a foreign, developing country that drives on the left side of the road. However, we successfully made it there and back without being abducted, hit by a car, having our bikes stolen, or any other negative consequences. The Jain temple complex, which I think is the furthest away, was my favorite, because it was interesting to learn about Jainism. Also it was well maintained and free, but smaller than the main group.

On one hand, it was really nice to bike around because we were finally free of the city and had a chance to be in the country and not deal with touts much. This was really the only time we got to see the countryside. However, because we were in the country, we were a bit more cautious of people and realized it would be easier if people wanted to commit a crime. It sounds a bit anxiety-ridden, and it really was—in fact, being in India in general as two young-ish white women was. This was after and during a few months when a number of news stories broke about gang-rapes of Indian and foreign women, so we generally felt on-edge. I’m not easily frazzled, so for me this was notable.

In addition, it made me more aware of how Indian women act and what their responsibilities in society are (*note: this is restricted to what I saw in central India—I don’t know about other parts of India). Generally, there were always more men than women present in public spaces. Workers in hotels, restaurants, taxis, and tourist booths were almost always men. In train stations, I once counted 52 men passing compared to 8 women. It felt so weird. I don’t generally think the worst of people, but it’s hard not to worry when there are so many men and so few women. It’s not only the fact that there were so many men, but the fact that women don’t have the opportunity to be in public life.

My sister and I talked about it a lot. We said if there was one woman tuk-tuk driver, we would have hired her the entire time we were in India, even if it meant paying a lot more money. Women can also be scammers, but to us they’re way less likely to commit some kind of violence against us. I was amazed to see so few women working at any kind of job, and I can see how that can restrict a woman’s independence and power. I can only imagine that Indian society would be improved by more women working in the public sphere. Having just one woman present at a restaurant or hotel made the whole thing seem less shady, and I bet Indian women and other tourists would feel the same way. It would be good for business. It wasn’t just us who noticed the scarcity of women—we heard an English couple on the train talking to Indians about it as well. Rant over.

Getting out of Khajuraho was more challenging than getting in. When we arrived in town, we hadn’t yet decided where we were going next. Since it was a small town, there weren’t train routes going in all directions. After many trials and tribulations, we finally did decide on a route. Then we tried to book tickets online (as we’d been doing), and our bank blocked both my and my sister’s transactions (many of the transactions were less than $5 so the bank became suspicious). Then we went to the bus station to attempt to buy them there. However, after taking an overpriced tuk-tuk that it turned out we didn’t need (it was actually in town and not 8 km away, as we’d read before), the ticket-seller was already closing up shop, and said we’d have to buy tickets the next morning. In the end, though, our nice mother bought the tickets from the USA for us, so we were able to take the train. Although the town wasn’t the worst place in the world, because we’d gone through so much to get out, and because there wasn’t much to do other than see the temples, we were relieved to finally board our train out the next morning. We were on our way to Rajasthan!

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Photos

Cool Architecture!
Main temple group, Khajuraho

Small Figures on Temple
Main temple group, Khajuraho

Such Cool Buildings!
Main temple group, Khajuraho

So Many Details
Main temple group, Khajuraho

Look Closely if You Dare
Main temple group, Khajuraho

Such a Variety of Statues
Main temple group, Khajuraho

Incredible Detail
Main temple group, Khajuraho

A Lot of Work
Main temple group, Khajuraho

Outside Temple View
Main temple group, Khajuraho

Nice Landscaping
Main temple group, Khajuraho

Eastern Temple Group
Khajuraho

Outside Jain Temple Group
Khajuraho

Well-Maintained
Jain temple group, Khajuraho

Tiles Inside Jain Temple
Khajuraho

Whitish Temples
at the Jain temple group, Khajuraho

Secluded and Shaded Temples
Jain temple group, Khajuraho

Outside Museum Near Jain Temple Group
Khajuraho

Train Station Scene
Along our route from Khajuraho to Udaipur

General Train View
Between Khajuraho and Udaipur