The moon's descendants and their sacred city
The legend: the first Chandela was born to Hemavati, a woman of great beauty, and Chandra, the moon god, who saw her bathing in a river.
From vassals to kings: the Chandelas began as feudatories of the Pratihara empire and became independent in the tenth century under Dhanga, who ruled until about 1002.
Their forts: the hill strongholds of Kalinjar, Ajaigarh and Mahoba.
- Dynasty
- The Chandelas
- Most temples built
- About 970 to 1030 CE
- At the peak
- About 85 temples over 20 sq km
- Defeat by Prithviraj
- 1182
- Rediscovered
- 1838, by Captain T. S. Burt
- The sacred centre: Khajuraho, whose old name Kharjuravahaka comes from the Sanskrit for the date palm.
- The building age: it began in earnest in the mid tenth century, around a cluster of tanks and the village.
- For many gods: the Chandelas built for Shiva, Vishnu, the goddess and the sun.
- Jain temples too: their Jain merchants and ministers built for the tirthankaras, the great teachers of that faith, often in the same years and by the same guilds of carvers.
- The fall: the Chandela king Paramardi lost a great battle to Prithviraj Chauhan, king of Ajmer and Delhi, whose name every Rajasthani child knows.
- The Alha Khand: Bundelkhand remembers that war from the other side, in the ballad of the Mahoba heroes Alha and Udal, which village singers still perform in the monsoon.
- Withdrawal: in the early thirteenth century the sultans of Delhi took Kalinjar, the Chandelas retreated to their hill forts, and Khajuraho shrank to a village.
- Ibn Battuta: the Moroccan traveller passed through in the fourteenth century and wrote of yogis living beside the temples.
- Never lost locally: in 1838 villagers guided Captain Burt to the temples, and his report in the journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal brought them to scholars.
- The three groups: Alexander Cunningham surveyed them in the following decades and gave us the names still used: Western, Eastern and Southern.
How to read a Khajuraho temple
The high point of a style: Khajuraho's temples are the peak of the nagara tradition. Learn its grammar and every temple makes sense.
The platform: each temple stands on a tall stone jagati, which you walk around clockwise before you enter.
A line of rooms: running east to west, a porch, one or more pillared halls called mandapas, a vestibule, and the small dark sanctum where the image lives.
- Style
- North Indian nagara
- Platform
- The jagati, walked clockwise
- Sanctum
- The garbhagriha, the womb-chamber
- Spire
- The shikhara
- Stone
- Buff and pinkish sandstone on granite
- Circling inside: in the larger temples a passage runs round the sanctum, so worshippers circle the god inside as well as out.
- The rising roofs: each room's roof is higher than the last, so the profile climbs from east to west like foothills rising to a peak.
- The shikhara: the great curved spire over the sanctum, built up from dozens of smaller copies of itself clustered around its sides.
- A cosmic mountain: the temple models Mount Meru or Kailash, with the god's chamber at its heart. You walk from the bright world into darkness and stillness.
- The stone: fine-grained sandstone from the Ken river country, soft enough to carve in deep relief and hard enough to last a thousand years.
- The walls: bands of sculpture in two or three registers, broken by deep recesses and projecting balconies that let light and air into the halls.
- The same vocabulary: our guide to reading temple architecture applies it to Rajasthan's temples.
The sculpture, seen in context
Count what you see: gods and goddesses in niches, guardians of the eight directions, rearing mythical lions called vyalas, elephants, musicians, dancers, marching soldiers, masons at work and teachers with students.
The surasundaris: above all, the celestial women, the true glory of Khajuraho, on whom scholars have written whole books.
What they do: take a thorn from a foot, write a letter, look in a mirror, apply kohl, wring water from their hair after a bath.
- The erotic carvings: the mithuna couples and more acrobatic group scenes make up only around a tenth of the whole.
- Where they are: concentrated in particular places, often near the junction between hall and sanctum.
- Not shameful: Hindu thought counts kama, pleasure and desire, as one of the four legitimate aims of life, with duty, prosperity and liberation.
- An old image: the loving couple was auspicious across Indian art for centuries before Khajuraho.
- Reading one: some scholars link the boldest scenes to tantric ritual practised in the region at the time.
- Reading two: others see the embracing couple as the union of the soul and the divine, the male and female principles of creation.
- Reading three: a royal temple showed the whole of a king's world, and love was part of it.
- What is not true: no serious reading supports the idea that Khajuraho is a temple of sex, or that its gods are shown in these acts.
- How our guides explain it: calmly, without nervous jokes, giving the musicians and masons as much time as the lovers.
- With children: families travel here easily. Children are usually more interested in the elephants and the monsters.
The Western Group, the heart of Khajuraho
- Lakshmana
- Mid 10th century, Vishnu
- Kandariya spire
- About 31 m, on a 4 m plinth
- Matangeshwar lingam
- About 2.5 m tall
- Oldest temple
- Chausath Yogini, late 9th century
- Best hour
- Opening time
- Temple by temple: our Khajuraho temples guide.
- The museum: things to do in Khajuraho adds the archaeological museum opposite the Western Group, where loose sculptures can be seen at eye level.
Lakshmana temple, the best preserved
Its builders: dedicated to Vishnu and consecrated under King Yashovarman and his son Dhanga.
- The most complete: four small shrines still stand at the corners of its platform.
- Walk the platform first: its frieze shows a whole tenth-century army on the move: horsemen, elephants, hunters, porters and camp followers.
- Then the walls: some of the most beautiful surasundaris in India lean out of the stone.
Kandariya Mahadeva, the summit
The grandest: built for Shiva in the first half of the eleventh century under Vidyadhara, the Chandela king remembered for standing up to Mahmud of Ghazni.
- The spire: built up from eighty-four miniature spires.
- Inside: the halls climb in height towards the sanctum, and the carved ceilings and doorways are as fine as anything outside.
- Our verdict: many think it the most perfect north Indian temple ever built, and we do not argue.
Devi Jagadambi and Chitragupta
A shared platform: two smaller temples beside Kandariya.
- Devi Jagadambi: now dedicated to the goddess, with some of the most graceful figures on the site.
- Chitragupta: a temple to Surya, the sun god, whose image drives a chariot of seven horses.
- At sunrise: it faces east, and the first light reaches deep inside.
Vishvanatha and its Nandi
A smaller sister of Kandariya: built for Shiva in Dhanga's time, around the beginning of the eleventh century.
- The Nandi: facing it in its own pillared pavilion, a great polished sandstone bull gazing at his lord.
- The festival stage: the Khajuraho dance festival is held near here.
Varaha, the boar covered in gods
- What it is: a single carved boar in a small open pavilion, the Varaha incarnation of Vishnu, its whole body covered with rows of tiny gods and sages.
- Easy to miss: one of the strangest and most moving sculptures in India, passed by on the way to the bigger temples.
Matangeshwar, still in worship
Plain outside, alive inside: just outside the fenced garden, with a great polished Shiva lingam.
- Daily worship: local people pray here every day, as they have for a thousand years.
- Mahashivratri: in February or March a fair fills the lanes around it.
- Step in: take off your shoes and cover your shoulders. This is the one Western Group temple where you see Khajuraho as a living faith.
Chausath Yogini, the oldest stones
Where: on a rise beyond the tank, a ruined shrine to the sixty-four yoginis, fierce goddesses of tantric worship.
- Built differently: of rough granite rather than sandstone, and with a rectangular courtyard of small cells, unlike the round yogini temples elsewhere in central India.
- Quiet: few visitors come, and the late afternoon is very still.
The Eastern Group, Jain temples and village lanes
Parshvanath, the largest Jain temple
The compound: the Jain temples belong to the Digambara tradition and stand inside walls still cared for by the community.
- The finest: Parshvanath, built in the tenth century, with some of the most delicate carving on the site, including surasundaris at their toilette.
- Fewer couples: the sculpture is as rich as in the Hindu temples, with far fewer amorous scenes.
- Compare with Rajasthan: if you know the white marble of Dilwara at Mount Abu or Ranakpur, it is fascinating to see the same faith in sandstone.
Adinath, Shantinath and the Ghantai temple
Adinath: a smaller temple with a beautifully proportioned spire.
- Shantinath: rebuilt in modern times around old images, where Jain families come to pray.
- Ghantai: only the pillared porch survives, its columns carved with bells on chains, ghanta meaning bell.
- Etiquette: dress modestly in the Jain compound, and remove leather belts and bags if asked.
Javari, Vamana and the so-called Brahma temple
Among the houses: three Hindu temples scattered through the fields and lanes of the old village.
Javari: a small, slender Vishnu temple with an elegant spire.
- Vamana: dedicated to Vishnu's dwarf incarnation.
- The Brahma temple: so called locally, built partly of granite, and in fact a Shiva shrine.
- The walk between: village houses, buffalo and small shrines, a reminder that people still live here.
The Southern Group, the last of the Chandela temples
Duladeo, the final flourish
When: built for Shiva in the early twelfth century, one of the last major temples here.
- The end of a tradition: its sculpture is heavier with jewellery and a little stiffer than in the eleventh-century temples.
- Look for: celestial women in elaborate ornaments, and very fine carving around the doorway.
Chaturbhuj, facing the sunset
Facing west: this Vishnu temple from around 1100 looks the other way from almost every temple here.
- The image: a tall, serene four-armed Vishnu.
- No erotic sculpture: the one major temple at Khajuraho with none at all.
- Our favourite last hour: stand at the doorway in the late afternoon as the setting sun lights the image, with almost no one else there.
Bijamandal, a temple underground
- The mound: near Chaturbhuj, excavated by archaeologists, revealing the base of a large temple that may never have been finished.
- What it tells you: its scattered carved blocks hint at how much of Khajuraho may still lie under the fields.
Panna, the Ken river and the tigers that came back
The landscape: plateau, gorge and dry deciduous forest along the Ken River.
The scandal: by 2009, fifteen years after it became a tiger reserve, poaching had wiped out its tigers, and it shook Indian conservation.
The recovery: tigers were brought from Bandhavgarh, Kanha and Pench. They now breed and spread across the wider landscape.
- Area
- About 540 sq km
- Ken River
- About 70 km through the park
- Tiger reserve
- 1994
- Tigers lost
- By 2009, to poaching
- Biosphere reserve
- UNESCO, 2020
- Not Ranthambore: sightings are less certain and the forest is thicker, and that is exactly why we like it.
- Other wildlife: leopards, sloth bears, nilgai, chinkara, and crocodiles and gharials along the river.
- Birds: more than two hundred kinds, including vultures that nest on the cliffs.
- How we do it: morning jeep drives with a naturalist, quiet boat trips on the Ken in season and walks in the buffer forests.
- The monsoon: the parks of central India close their core zones.
- Choosing well: our guide to tiger and leopard safaris explains how we choose naturalists and zones.
Raneh Falls and the Ken gorge
Where: about twenty kilometres from Khajuraho, where the Ken cuts a deep canyon through crystalline granite in bands of pink, red and grey.
- After the monsoon: the falls pour over the rock.
- In the dry months: a sculpture of polished stone.
- Gharials: the nearby Ken Gharial Sanctuary protects the slender-snouted river crocodile.
Panna town and the diamond country
Diamonds: Panna is India's diamond district, with a mechanised mine nearby and small licensed pits worked by families who still dream of the one great stone.
- The old town: fine temples built by the Bundela rulers of Panna.
- Pandav Falls: a pool under an overhang of rock in the forest, a pleasant stop.
Kalinjar, the Chandela stronghold
A long day out: into Uttar Pradesh, for those who love forts as much as we do.
- Its history: a vast hill fortress held by the Chandelas and fought over for centuries.
- What it hides: rock-cut sculpture and the Neelkanth temple to Shiva on its cliff face.
Where to stay, in town or by the forest
- Compare them all: in where to stay in Orchha and Khajuraho and luxury hotels in Khajuraho.
- Tiger country lodges: the style we prefer is on our page on wildlife lodges.
The Oberoi Rajgarh Palace
The first palace hotel here: opened by Oberoi in November 2025 in a restored Bundela palace on the slopes of the Maniyagarh hills.
Its builder: Oberoi attributes the palace to Maharaja Hindupat of the Bundela dynasty.
- The estate: about 76 acres with a natural lake, a short drive from the temples and close to Panna.
- What it adds: history, a spa reached by boat across the lake, and a sense of arrival Khajuraho always lacked.
- The trade-off: you drive to the temples rather than walk, but the drive is short.
- More detail: our guide to Orchha and Khajuraho stays.
In Khajuraho town
What's there: several large, well-run modern hotels with pools and gardens, close to the Western Group.
- Why stay here: you can walk to the temples at opening time.
- What we ask for: upper-floor rooms with views of the spires, in the quietest wing away from the wedding lawns.
Pashan Garh, Panna
Taj's wildlife lodge: on the edge of Panna, built of local dry-stone, with cottages across a rocky hillside.
- Naturalists: who know the forest well.
- Best for: the most polished way to combine the temples with tigers.
Sarai at Toria, on the Ken
What it is: a small eco-lodge on the banks of the Ken, run by conservationists.
- The style: mud-walled cottages, food from local farms, and walks, birds and village life rather than luxury trappings.
- Who it suits: travellers who want calm and conversation.
When to come, and the dance festival
Who runs it: the Madhya Pradesh Kala Parishad, every year.
The stage: open-air, in front of the Chitragupta and Vishvanatha temples.
The dances: Kathak, Bharatanatyam, Odissi, Kuchipudi, Manipuri and Kathakali, performed at night with the temples lit behind the dancers.
- Dance festival
- Late February, about a week
- Held since
- 1975
- Best season
- October to March
- Hottest
- May to June, often above 40°C
- Mahashivratri
- February or March
- Book early: the town fills up, so we reserve the best rooms many months ahead.
- October to March: warm, dry days. December and January nights can be cold, which matters for a jeep at dawn in Panna.
- March and April: growing hot.
- May and June: Khajuraho is one of the hottest places in central India.
- The monsoon: July to September is green and quiet, but the parks close.
- Pilgrims: Mahashivratri brings them to the Matangeshwar temple.
- Month by month: our page on the best time to visit Khajuraho.
Getting to Khajuraho
By air: flights to Delhi and, in some seasons, to Varanasi.
By road: Orchha lies west through Bundelkhand farmland and granite hills, and Jhansi a little further.
- Airport
- Khajuraho (HJR), about 3 km
- From Orchha
- Four to five hours by road
- Train
- Overnight from Delhi
- To Panna gate
- Under an hour
- To Raneh Falls
- About half an hour
- By train: Khajuraho's station has an overnight train from Delhi's Hazrat Nizamuddin.
- Our preference: the fast Gatimaan Express to Jhansi, a night in Orchha, and the drive on.
- To Varanasi: a full day's drive, so we fly when connections allow to Varanasi.
- On our journeys: the Rajasthan, Orchha and Khajuraho journey brings all this together after Jaipur and Agra.
- On to the Ganga: Rajasthan and Varanasi shows how the temples fit on the way.
Two days at Khajuraho, and two more in the forest
- Shorter and longer versions: our Khajuraho itinerary, including a single night for travellers in a hurry.
Day one, the Western Group
Opening time: be at the Western Group with a guide, and give the morning to Lakshmana and Kandariya.
- On the way out: Matangeshwar, then the museum.
- Afternoon: rest.
- Dusk: walk the garden again in soft light, or see the sound and light show.
Day two, the Eastern and Southern Groups
Morning: walk through the old village to the Jain temples and the scattered Hindu shrines around them.
- After lunch: drive to Raneh Falls and the Ken gorge.
- Sunset: back for the Chaturbhuj temple.
Days three and four, Panna
Move to the forest: a lodge by Panna.
- Drives: morning and afternoon, with a naturalist.
- Also: a boat on the Ken when the season allows, and an afternoon in a village or at Pandav Falls.
Neighbourly advice for Khajuraho
Hire a licensed guide: without one, the Western Group temples blur together. With one, every wall tells a story.
Go early and late: at midday the sandstone glares and the platforms are hot underfoot.
- Cover shoulders and knees: especially at Matangeshwar and the Jain temples, where worship continues.
- Ignore the booklets: anyone offering cheap booklets of only the erotic carvings, or a quick tour of them, is selling a misunderstanding.
- Handle touts kindly: a polite, firm no, with your guide beside you, settles it.
- Bring binoculars: they help with the high carvings on the spires as much as with birds in Panna.
- Who will love Khajuraho: anyone curious about art, faith and architecture, and families who want temples and tigers in one trip.
- Who will not: travellers looking for nightlife.
