Khajuraho the world heritage city, has one of the most erotic sculptures in the country craved on it, and it is quite famous for that too, people know this city as the mystic land of Kamasutra. Here in this blog, “the Erotic Sculptures of Khajuraho”, we will mainly discuss the erotic sculptures of Khajuraho, the land of mystic Kamasutra. There are various things we need to know about Kamasutra and the positions that are mentioned in the Kamasutra and craved in the walls of the Khajuraho temple.
What is Kamasutra?
The Kamasutra is a Sanskrit text or spirituality, eroticism, and emotional fulfillment in life. Kamasutra was written as an ancient Indian ancient guide to the art of living well, the nature of love, finding a life partner, maintaining one’s love life, and other aspects pertaining to pleasure-oriented faculties of human life. But Kamasutra is neither exclusively nor predominantly a sex manual on sex positions. You know many people think that Kamasutra is all about sex manual on sex positions but it’s not. After reading this blog hope you will know more about the topic and maybe it will broaden your mind too. I was also like the same with half knowledge and with some baseless facts but when I researched the topic it is much more what I thought.
I found this topic quite interesting, after writing the blog on “Khajuraho- the mystic land of Kamasutra”. Many people told me to write about those erotic sculptures too. So here I am with another blog on those sculptures.
You know, who wrote the Kamasutra?
Vatsyayana is an ancient Indian philosopher, known for authoring the Kamasutra. He lived in India during the second or third century CE, probably in Patliputra (modern-day Patna).
Vatsyayana Mallanaga is its widely accepted author because his name is embedded in the colophon (is a brief statement containing information about the publication of a book such as the place of publication, the publisher, and the date of publication.) verse, but little is known about him. Vatsyayana states that he wrote the text after much meditation. In the preface, Vatsyayana acknowledges that he is distilling many ancient texts, but these have not survived. He cites the work of others he calls “teachers” and “scholars”, and the longer texts by Auddalaki, Babhravya, Dattaka, Suvarnanabha, Ghotakamukha, Gonardiya, Gonikaputra, Charayana, and Kuchumara. Vatsyayana’s Kamasutra is mentioned and some verses are quoted in the Brihatsamhita of Varahamihira, as well as the poems of Kalidasa. This suggests he lived before the 5th-century CE.
The text is a mix of prose and anustubh-meter (is a meter and a metrical unit, found in both Vedic and Classical Sanskrit poetry, but with significant differences.) poetry verses. The text acknowledges the Hindu concept of Purusharthas and lists desire, sexuality, and emotional fulfillment as one of the proper goals of life. Its chapters discuss methods for courtship, training in the arts to be socially engaging, finding a partner, flirting, maintaining power in a married life, when and how to commit adultery, sexual positions, and other topics. The majority of the book is about the philosophy and theory of love, what triggers desire, what sustains it, and how and when it is good or bad. Its chapters discuss methods for courtship, training in the arts to be socially engaging, finding a partner, flirting, maintaining power in a married life, when and how to commit adultery, sexual positions, and other topics. The majority of the book is about the philosophy and theory of love, what triggers desire, what sustains it, and how and when it is good or bad.
So, this is what Kamasutra is all about, this is the basic idea of the Kamasutra that I have written here. From the idea of Kamasutra, many temples in India have sculptures that tell the story of Kamasutra.
Watch my vlog here.
The erotic sculptures of Khajuraho are the cynosure of all eyes and yet, you get varied reactions from people who visit the town and the temples of Khajuraho. While some are cynical, others cringe. A few are embarrassed, others are disappointed.
1. As per the legends, Hemvati was a beautiful woman, after whom the Khajuraho temples were built. One day, when she was bathing in a pool in Benaras in the dark under moonlight, the Moon God was swooned by her beauty, and could not wait any longer to see her. They conceived a child and named him Chandravarman. However, she feared that her child might have to face harassment as he was born out of wedlock. She was so distressed that she cursed the Moon God, who later prophesied that the child will grow up to become a great king. Just like the prophecy, the child indeed grew to become a great king, who founded the Chandela dynasty. One day, after Hemvati passed away, her son saw her in his dreams, where she asked him to construct temples that would depict human passions.
2. Another interpretation even goes to say that the temples themselves are designed as a form of the “seductress”. And there is this belief centered around the tantric cult that explains that the sculptures are metaphors and are actually a form of language, a form of educating the various doctrines of the cult through symbols and imagery.
3. Some believe that such sculptures were built for the excitement of the kings who ruled the region then, who lived extremely luxurious lives.
As you see here, many stories are circulating about this temple. So, it’s your choice on which you believe.
When you visit the Khajuraho temple then you will find many sculptures on almost every wall of the temples, only 10% of Khajuraho temples have erotic art carved on them.
Let’s see and learn about the erotic sculptures by watching the images.
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Note: There are many photos in my gallery but I can’t upload all.
Date, author, and history of Kamasutra
The original composition date or century for the Kamasutra is unknown. Historians have variously placed it between 400 BCE and 300 CE. According to John Keay, the Kama Sutra is a compendium that was collected into its present form in the 2nd century CE. In contrast, the Indologist Wendy Doniger who has co-translated Kama sutra and published many papers on related Hindu texts, the surviving version of the Kamasutra must have been revised or composed after 225 CE because it mentions the Abhiras and the Andhras dynasties that did not co-rule major regions of ancient India before that year. The text makes no mention of the Gupta Empire which ruled over major urban areas of ancient India, reshaping ancient Indian arts, Hindu culture and economy from the 4th-century through the 6th-century. For these reasons, she dates the Kama sutra to the second half of the 3rd-century CE.
Note: If you haven’t read my blog on “Khajuraho – the mystic land of Kamasutra” then please read it, reading is a good habit.
And, and if you haven’t watched my vlog on this same topic on YouTube then I am giving you the link, please have a look and do like, comment share and subscribe.
Link: https://youtu.be/WhbONl8uy6c
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