Khajuraho Group Of Monuments Madhya Pradesh History and Interesting Facts

Khajuraho Group Of Monuments Quick Facts

Khajuraho Group Of Monuments Overview

India is famous in the world for its culture and art. Located in Chhatarpur province of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, the Khajuraho group of monuments is known all over the world for its artwork, architectural style, and history. Various types of sculptures have also been done in it, which makes it seem that Indian history has come alive again.

Khajuraho Group Of Monuments History

The Temples of this group of monuments were built during the reign of the Chandela dynasty, about 1000 years before the present. At that time this dynasty was consolidating its legacy which later came to be known as Bundelkhand. Most of the temples in this group of monuments were built during the reign of Indian Hindu Kings Dhangadeva and Yashovarman.

Yashovarman was the ruler of the Chandela dynasty who built the Lakshmana temple and Dhanga was the son of Yashovarman who built the Vishwanath Temple. Presently the most popular temple of this group of monuments is Kandaria Mahadev Temple which was built by a Chandela ruler Vidyadhar. From the inscriptions and inscriptions present in these temples, it is known that they were built between 970 AD to 1030 AD.

This memorial group of temples was built at a distance of about 35 miles from the medieval Mahoba city. Mahoba (Kalinjar Region) was the capital of that Chandela dynasty. In the year 1022 AD, Mahmud Ghaznavi invaded the Kalinjar region, in which a Persian historian, Al-Biruni, who accompanied him, wrote in his book that Khajuraho was the capital of Jejahuti. This war of Mahmud Ghaznavi was unsuccessful because at that time a Hindu ruler had made an agreement by giving him some wealth.

The use of these temples had almost stopped by the 12th century, when Qutb-ud-din Aibak, the ruler of the Delhi Sultanate in the 13th century, won a war with the Chandelas, who also changed the capital here. Between 1335 and 1342 AD, a Moroccan traveler Ibn Battuta visited the region and addressed Khajuraho as "Kajra". From about the 13th to the 18th century, Khajuraho was ruled by different Muslim rulers who also caused a lot of damage to it.

In the year 1495, Sikandar Lodi launched a campaign in which he caused a lot of damage to the temples of Khajuraho. In the 1930s the British surveyor T.S. Burt had rediscovered the Khajuraho temples, shortly after which the English archaeologist "Alexander Cunningham" reviewed Burt's discovery and found that these temples were visited by Hindu yogis and thousands of Hindu devotees during Shivaratri between March and February.

Khajuraho Group Of Monuments Interesting Facts

1. The construction work of this world-famous monument group was done by the Chandela Rajput dynasty between about 950 AD and 1050 AD.
2. About 85 Hindu temples existed in Khajuraho before the rule of Muslim rulers, some of which were destroyed by them and some due to natural calamities. Presently there are about 22 Hindu temples present there.
3. The photographs of the temples of this famous group of monuments were prepared by Messe in 1852 AD.
4. This great group of monuments was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in the year 1986.
5. The Kandariya Mahadev temple located in this group of monuments is the most special, which has a height of 107 feet and about 246 figures have been counted inside and about 646 figures outside.
6. The largest group of medieval Hindu and Jain temples are present in Khajuraho, erotic sculptures were used to decorate these temples which made this temple even more famous.
7. The name Khajuraho is derived from the Hindi word 'Khajoor', which means "Date palm".
8. These monuments are considered the "High point" of medieval Indian architectural brilliance as the carvings on them was one of the most amazing of the time.
9. The Khajuraho temples are divided geographically into three divisions, which are called Western, Eastern, and Southern regions.
10. The fascinating temples of Khajuraho represent the expression of a highly developed civilization. This monument mainly attracts tourists to India.