Khajuraho Group of Monuments
A group of Hindu and Jain temples in Madhya Pradesh, India, built mainly between the 10th and 12th centuries and renowned for their sculpture.
Nagara architecture: The northern Indian temple style marked by a tower above the sanctuary and a rising, curvilinear profile. Khajuraho’s temples are among the best-known expressions of this northern Indian architectural tradition.
Temple sculpture: Sculptural images carved or installed as part of a temple’s architecture. Khajuraho’s figures are integrated into walls, niches, and architectural bands.
Chandela dynasty: A medieval Indian dynasty that ruled parts of Bundelkhand from the 9th to the 13th centuries. Chandela rulers sponsored most of the temples during their era of regional power.
Devi Jagadambi Temple: A temple at Khajuraho whose principal shrine image is associated with Devi, the Hindu goddess. Its sculptural program and debated original dedication illustrate the complexity of identifying temple images.
Alexander Cunningham: A British army engineer and archaeologist who founded the Archaeological Survey of India in 1861. His 19th-century surveys helped bring Khajuraho’s monuments to wider scholarly attention.
Hindu temple architecture: The architectural traditions and spatial forms used to build Hindu temples. Its sanctuary, assembly spaces, and towers shape the group’s Hindu temple designs.
Erotic sculpture: Sculpture depicting sexual acts, desire, or intimate bodily relations. Some exterior panels depict erotic subjects, though they form only part of a much wider sculptural program.
Bundelkhand: A historical and cultural region spanning parts of present-day Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh in central India. Khajuraho’s location in Bundelkhand connects the monuments to the region ruled by the Chandela dynasty.
Chitragupta Temple: A Khajuraho temple dedicated to Surya, the Hindu sun god. Its image of Surya adds a distinctive solar shrine to the group’s range of Hindu temples.
Archaeological Survey of India: India’s national agency for archaeological research, excavation, and protection of monuments. The agency oversees conservation and management of the protected Khajuraho monuments.