Temples dedicated to erotica

We have already mentioned in an earlier post about India and the Kama Sutra, the holy book of sex and love. Let’s now dwell on this topic again and some of the strange temples in India that have sex positions in the Kama Sutra. India has one of the few “age-restricted” parts of the world heritage, the Khajuraho temple group.

Khajuraho is a village in the Indian province of Madhya Pradesh, approx. 620 km southeast of Delhi, the capital of India. The churches here are approx. It was built in 100 years between 950 and 1050 AD. Of the original 80 Hindu temples, only 22 remain in their original condition. They are currently spread over a total of 21 km2. Hundreds of statues depict different positions of lovemaking on the walls of the church complex.

These temples have a spiral structure, adhering to the traditions of North India.

India has been extremely conservative for the past few hundred years: some of the Islamic dynasties, some of the British colonizers, and some of the priestly caste of the Hindu religion have had great but similar significance. But this was not always the case! Previously, in the 13th Century, sexual norms were much freer. It is quite astonishing to man today that sex was a school subject and we find engraved memories of this on the walls of the Khajuraho temple group.

At first glance, the superficial observer sees completely ordinary decorations on the walls of the temples. However, if we take a closer look at them, we can see that they are extremely erotic depictions: triple sex, orgies, homosexuality, good-bodied people satisfying each other in impossible poses while divine beings stare at them with a smile. Like a stone carved ancient hardcore porn movie! These engravings are in very good condition, compared to the fact that we are talking about temples more than a thousand years old.

Khajuraho, wikipedia.org

There are several ideas as to why this kind of representation was so popular. Some say that the members of the Chandela dynasty who built the church group were following tantric principles, and this is reflected back in the temples. Others say that the temples had a different role than they did now: they were also important places for learning, and therefore, of course, they also provided a place for learning to make love. It is also true that the depiction of sexual activities was quite simply a good omen, as it symbolized new beginnings, new lives. And there is also the spiritual explanation: in the loving relationship of the Supreme and human, the expression of love is only seemingly ordinary. The attraction of the Supreme and the pure human soul is free from all physical and material aspects. And this attraction is also depicted in the engravings of these temples.