Khajuraho : The Monuments - Part XII
Search

Exact Match
  The Temples
  Chausath-yogini   temple

  Lalguan-   Mahadeva

  Matangeshvara   Temple

  Varaha temple

  Parvati Temple

  Lakshamana   Temple

  Vishvanath   Temple

  Nandi Shrine

  Chitragupta   Temple

  Jagadambi   Temple

  Kandariya   Mahadeva

  Brahma Temple

  Vamana Temple

  Ghantai Temple

  Duladeo Temple

  Chaturbhuja   Temple
 
Home | History | Art and Architecture | Western Group Temples | Eastern Group temples | Southern Group temples | Khajuraho Erotica

The Southern group

The southern group of monuments comprise the Duladeo and the Chaturbhuja or Jatkari temple.

Duladeo temple
The Duladeo temple, also called Kunwar Math, is situated south of the Ghantai temple and is notable for being the latest temple of Khajuraho. Dedicated to Shiva, it is a nirandhara temple and consists of a sanctum, vestibule, maha-mandapa and porch. Its shikara is of the usual developed form, clustered round by three tows of minor shikaras, its maha-mandapa shows some peculiarities of design and decoration. The maha-mandapa hall is remarkably large and octagonal showing twenty apsaras- brackets, grouped in bunches of two or three, abutting against its corbelled circular ceiling.

While the dancing apsaras of its interiors and the flying Vidyadharas on the top rows of its facadas show vigorous tension and movements, its sculptures are overburdened with ornamentation. While some figures on this temple are of an exceptional artistic merit , the plastic treatment has, on the whole, become fluid and, in many cases, lacks depth of relief, which is evident on a majority of the apsaras-figures of the exterior.

The iconography of this temple also shows some distinctive traits. The Ashtavasu figures are invariably depicted here with a crocodile-mount in place of the usual bull, while Yama and Nritti, two of the Dikpalas, wear their raised curls in a stylized fan-shape. The facades carry tedious repetitions of the images of the standing Shiva and Shiva-Parvati with identical attributes, displaying a poverty of ideas and a degeneration of art.

Thus, plastically and iconographically, the temple marks the exhaustion of the remarkable vitality for which the Khajuraho sculptures are justly famous, and its peculiarities, both sculptural and architectural, are such that it could be placed only at the end of the finer series of the Khajuraho temples.

Chaturbhuja temple
This is the farthest temple, situated about 3 Km south of Khajuraho and 600m south-west of Jatkari village. It is a nirandhara temple of a modest size similar to the Javari, and consists on plan of a sanctum carrying a simple shikara of heavy proportions, vestibule, mandapa and a porch. This is the only developed local temple that lacks erotic sculptures.
Although the temple is girdled around by the three usual bands of sculptures, all figures, excluding those of the vidyadharasin the top row, are stereotyped. The large image (2.7 m high) image of four-armed Dakshinamurti Shiva enshrined in the sanctum, however, is remarkable for its expression of transcendental calm and bliss. The consort of Narsimha, figured in the northern niche of the sanctum façade, is also noteworthy.

Khajuraho erotica......



Copyright ©2000 indiansaga.info. All rights reserved.
By using this service, you accept that you won't copy or use the data given in this website for any commercial purpose.
The material on indiansaga.info is for informational & educational purpose only.
This site is best viewed at 800 X 600 picture resolution.