In Tuktuk to Group Sex Party

Now I'm doing exactly the same thing as everyone else writing about the temples of Khajuraho. I pick out ten percent of the thousands of relief sculptures that cover the temples here, which depict erotic to explicit pornographic scenes. Depending on how repressed the handling of these 10th to 12th-century depictions is (they're really old), various interpretations are offered - but no effort has been made for the many pretty girls depicted, for example, while they put on makeup, remove a thorn from their foot, or simply recline lasciviously. Some experts (mostly men) believe that the reliefs are hints of ritual group sex events in the temples (which would then be something like the swinger clubs of the 10th century), which is slightly nonsensical considering the few reliefs that actually depict group sex scenes. Others (the pious and repressed) interpret the erotic depictions as indications for the worshipers that they must abandon their sensual desires when entering the temples. No one really knows more, but the sometimes acrobatic positions, as known from the Kama Sutra, are probably only fun for the stone sculptures (and some circus artists).

We didn't come because of the erotic scenes (although we find them very funny), but because of the high quality of the sculptures and their mostly sensational state of preservation. The best of them are not even stuck to the temples, but are large animal figures: a boar covered all over with small reliefs, a bull, a lion playing with a child. But the relief bands on the temples are also mostly very good (especially the older ones), unfortunately we don't really understand their content because we lack insight into Hinduism. The temples also have a lot to offer architecturally, but I'm afraid you won't understand that from the photos. Two days of intensive temple tours (in a Tuktuk for the first time!!!) make the individual buildings blur a bit, Hindu art is still very new to us.