The temples of Khajuraho

Title

Creator

Mitron Paniqui

Language

English

Source

Panorama X (10) October 1958

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

What do the statues stand tor? 'Temples Kha^utaliO ? By Mitron Paniqui Z-J fter the Taj Mahal, probably the most popular tourist attraction of In dia are the temples of Khajuraho. This spot attracts thou sands of tourists every year. So lucrative is the business that the government is compelled to keep the roads of Khajuraho well-maintained so that the vi sitors might arrive relaxed and comfortable. The Circuit House, a hotel built solely for the Kha juraho patrons, does not lack in guests the year round. There are already plans to increase its number of rooms and install air-conditioning. The village of Khajuraho is a dead village sunk in dust and poverty. The villagers lead a sub-standard life. The whole area is flat and rather forbid ding. There are a few fields cultivated in a rather indiffer ent manner and stunted date palms from which the village probably took its name. This site was chosen during the tenth century by the ruling family to build a series of temples de dicated to the worship of Shiva. The temples are less than a thousand years old and most of them are reasonably well preserved. Most of the statues are still recognizable. Some of the temples, however, have been destroyed but the pieces of sculpture have been gathered together and are now on exhibit near the intact ones. There are no radical differences between the temples so there is really no reason to decry the destruction of some of them. The temples are plain; they are hardly architectural master pieces. In som£z of them bal conies have beefl ''added but on the whole the temples look plain and uninteresting. October 1958 31 It is the decorations that at tract attention. The decorations are overwhelming in both num ber and exuberance. They cover nearly all the wall space—in ternal and external—of the tem ples. The sides of the temples are covered with perpendicular ribs which run from the top of the spire to the base. Horizon tal lines encircle the width. Thus each sculptural grouping, how ever free in composition and conception has its own geome trical position. In some of the bigger temples every panel of figures is alternated with one of Sardula, thus conveying a sense of completeness. has been said that most of the sculptures at Khaju raho depict every fact of life. However, most of the facets of life have been assigned to the corners of the less visible areas. The most prominent pieces de pict an almost unbridled ero ticism. There are pieces depict ing men and women copulat ing in every conceivable posi tion; there are men embracing two women at the same time; there are women in an attitude of love with one man. The contortions of love did not seem so numerous as at Khajuraho. For this reason probably no complete pictorial book on Khajuraho has yet ap peared. The coldness of the stone figures is lost in a photo graph and only their porno graphic brilliance seems to be recorded. Also, most of the Kha juraho figures are more than life-size which accounts for a rather emetic effect. The same figures when reduced to the in timacy of a postcard become terrifyingly erotic. There are a number of theo ries regarding the intention of these art objects. One theory says that it is an illustration of phallic worship. Another says that it is an illustrated KamaSutra for the illiterate. Another maintains that they are intend ed to depict the last phase of the Kaliyuga when women lose their modesty and the world is plunged into every kind of mis ery. The kaliyuga theory loses its relevance when one examines the figures closely. In their faces and contortions, one could not discover any trace of misery. The puzzling aspect of Kha juraho is its religious intention. Are these decorations on the temples intended to arouse feel ings of reverence and worship? It would probably be closer to the truth to say that these sculptures are secular rather than religious in intention. The repetition of the various pos tures were meant to exhibit the technical skill of the artist ra ther than to arouse a feeling of reverence. 32 Panorama he inner walls of the tem' pies are covered with work that is conventional and com paratively tame. Only the ceil ings are covered with decora tive motif that is not human. Here again the artist displayed his mastery of geometric forms. The Jain Temples which are about a mile away are also cov ered with the same motifs. But here one gets the impression that the figures are less lush, the workmanship inferior. Prob ably a less gifted artist worked these stones. One detail about the Khaju raho temples puzzles the art commentators. In all the pan els the artist has exhibited com plete mastery over the propor tions of the human form but he did not know how to make a child. There are a few children in the panels and all of them are completely out of propor tion to the adult figures. The suckling children are no bigger than the palms of their mo thers’ hand. One fellow seated with his parents was no bigger than his father’s fist and a child standing beside his mother looked like an utter dwarf. Serious students of art are going over these temples in de tail. We expect to hear from them soon. In the meantime the government of India is more in terested in the dollars that these temples bring than in their strictly artistic value. Thus the attempts of the government men to restore these temples result in pathetic errors. The refitted figures look startlingly distorted. Heads and arms do not go where they broke off. These errors, however, can be remedied later as we get to know more about these tem ples—gems of art set in one of the unlikely spots in the world. Unlucky Day A man walked into police headquarters in Hack ensack, New Jersey, and applied for a job on the force. Detective Sergeant Leo Liberali gave him an ap plication to fill out. The man wrote James P. Stagg, 30. That sounded familiar. Liberali looked over a warrant and found the same name. Stagg was want ed for passing a bad check for 70 dollars. He was released on 100 dollars bail for a hearing. * October 1958 33

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31-33

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