Thursday, March 22: Erotic Temple Carvings, Flight to Varanasi

It was a shame we had only one night at the Lalit Temple View in Khajuraho;  it was a beautiful hotel and I hadn't even had time to use the pool!

Friendly black-winged stilt enjoying the pool.

This morning we explored temples built during the reign the Chandela dynasty between the 9th and 13th centuries.  Most Hindu and Jain temples had been destroyed by the Moghuls but, thanks to their remote location (yes, we noticed it's not easy to get to Khahurajo!), they were overlooked.  They came to the attention of the world after a British officer was shown the site, overgrown and neglected, and he recognized their importance.  They are now a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Our guide pointed out that, even though the erotic sculptures are the most famous, they represent only about 7% of the total carvings in the temples.  When you think about it, that's a good balance!  (No, I am not going to show pictures of the 7%.  Use your imagination.)

Elephants supporting the temple.  Each had a different face, but all had expressions showing the strain of holding up the temple.

Our visit fell in the nine-day Navratri Festival (18-26 March in 2018), during which a different Hindu goddess is venerated each day.  These women were on their way to the temple to present offerings.

From the temples, we took a short flight from Khahurajo (bragging rights:  this is the smallest city in India with an airport, with a population of 30,000) to Varanasi.  Sometimes I just looked at the exotic place names on my Boarding Pass and marveled.

The entry to the airport was slowed down by an Italian tour group which pushed to the front and insisted on going through first.  Most airports in India require that you show a boarding pass or other proof of travel to enter the airport.  The Italian guide had a passenger list and would shout a name, the passenger would go up to the front and present his/her passport, the guide would call the next name… the guards did a double-take when Dev, our guide, handed them a passenger list and we proceeded in a line, in order of our names on the passenger list.  It went FAR more smoothly.  The flight to Varanasi was only 40 minutes.