Khajuraho, the temple city of central India, is famous throughout the world for its exquisitely carved temples in stones. Thousands of visitors and tourists from all over the world flock together to envisage this immortal saga of Hindu art and culture engraved in stone by shilpies (stone craftsmen) a millenia ago.
Erotic Sculptures :
The visitor to Khajuraho cannot but be attracted to the vivid erotic sculptures on the temples walls. The sculptures are mithunas i.e. couple in various erotic poses. There have been many interpretations of their existence and some have criticized them severely. According to one authority, a man and woman in erotic embrace typify the ultimate union of the soul such erotic figures save the temple from beings struck by the lightening. The reason given for this is that Indra, Lord of rain and thunder bolt who himself is a great connoisseur of Kama, will not damage anything pertaining to that.
Yet another theory holds them to be connected to with Indian sects who invest sex with a ritual symbolism and considered Yoga (spiritual exercise) and bhoga (physical pleasure) as two different paths leading to the same goad, that is moksha, self deliverance. According to these sects, in the enjoyment of sex one can transcend into a samadhi thereby attaining nirvan (salvation). This can be amply corroborated by a verse from Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (7-3-21-) : "That indeed in his form which transcends desire, is bereft of merits and demerits, and is fearless. As a man fully embraced by his dear wife knows nothing external or internal even so this infinite entity fully embraced by the Supreme self knows nothing external or internal.
That indeed is his form in which all objects of desire have been realized, in which they have become the self, and which is devoid of desire and beyond grief". These erotic figures are also symbolized by a few as representing tantric rituals, while other view them as the cleaner or the purifier for the devotees who come to worship God. These sculptures, they say, serve as a test for the devotees self control in order to achieve the goal that is to reach the deity placed in the sanctum. In other words it means that if a person wants to achieve God, he has to forget all this at the outset.
There are others who attribute to the desire of the sculptor to show life in its naked reality. Some say that it is related to the fertility cult. But a more plausible explanation could be that as the life in totality has been depicted on the temples, sex, which plays a major role in the life of a grahast should not be left out. The subject of erotic and its philosophical and religious interpretations is not new in the oriental world. They are deeply rooted the social life of the people. In a country where the Linga cult is the source of religious belief and its manifestations sculptures are but a continuation of that tradition which accepts procreation as a major function of life.
The presence of erotic sculptures show that there were no taboos or inhibitions against sex as we have now. The people of that time took a healthy view of things and gave sex its requisite place in its life. Kama or pursuit of pleasure was deemed to be one of the four purusharthas or legitimate aims of life offer a Grahast and was regarded as a stepping stone to moksha, or deliverance. Therefore, these erotic scenes were not regarded as abnormal or unnatural.
