Team-BHP > Travelogues


Reply
  Search this Thread
110,100 views
Old 4th November 2011, 15:33   #46
Senior - BHPian
 
Fauji's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Bangalore
Posts: 1,471
Thanked: 994 Times
Re: Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh

Quote:
Originally Posted by bilalsyed View Post
Indeed sir. I am a lucknowite but here in chennai :( I'd have loved to show you around this magnificent city also called Shiraz-e-Hind.

Mayawati lucknow Is great ! but the old Lucknow food is ooh-la-la ! please Do visit my school La Martiniere College, Lucknow if you get time. Its the only school in India with battle honors given by the Queen herself.

and yes "Muskuraiye Kyunki aap lucknow mein hain"
Bilal bhai,

Lucknow is unfortuantely underrated on the tourist circuit. It is a place where one can spend a complete day seeing the sights, eating the avadhi/lucknowi food and buying Lucknowi stuff like Chikan. Add to that what Mayavati has built - debates apart - which is amazing, you need another day!! You need time to get soaked in "City of Adabs"

I like the river front garden done by Lucknow Muncipal corporation. I don't want to give away secrets now itself before i reach your city.
Fauji is offline  
Old 4th November 2011, 19:27   #47
Senior - BHPian
 
Fauji's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Bangalore
Posts: 1,471
Thanked: 994 Times
Sights of Sanchi......continued

The East Thorana

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc_0167.jpg

Temple 17 - A rare temple of Gupta era

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc_0168.jpg

Temple 17 and 18

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc_0169.jpg

Sculpture of Nagi with Stupa 3 in the background

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc_0173.jpg

Stupa 3

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc_0174.jpg

Stupa 3 from close

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc_0175.jpg

The broken pieces of Ashoka pillar. The polishing of the pillar is so good - looks like it is machine polished - it amazes me at the skills of these pepole in 3rd century BC. The Lion capital - national emblem -which was on top of the pillar is safely displayed in Sarnath Museum now.

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-164624023_211e2c2d5f_o1.jpg

The staue of Buddha. The Afternoon lighting was perfect!

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-164622335_b75277b4ae_o1.jpg

Sanchi is very well maintained by ASI and is not to be missed. The museum is fantastic with rare sculptures of Buddha and Ashoka’s lion. We are not allowed to take pictures. The sculptural heritage of this country is so phenomenal it fills you with lot of pride. One can also see gradual the refinement of these sculptures from Gupta - Ashoka times of 3rd century BC to Chalukya/Pallavas of 6-7th century to medieval times of 12-15th century of which Khajuraho in the north, Belur-Halebidu-Hampi in the south along with Chola temples.

The Sanchi Musuem (picture downloded from Web)

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-sanchi-mu.jpg

For people who want to stay in Sanchi, MPTDC has good hotels here. I happenned to see a charming British era circuit house opposite the museum which is worth checking out.

We depart Sanchi and as we reach Vidisha, the miserable road conditions start. We check the road conditions to Udaipur caves from locals and the answer is negative. We drop the idea of going there lest we would have lost an hour. We felt sad to miss the famous sculpture of Varaha in one of the caves.

From now onwards we are to experience worst drive of the whole trip. This is worse than the Manali – Leh road we had done last year. This is supposed to be a NH. We have to really search for the road on this stretch of NH. It takes us five and half hours for 120 KMs. The pathetic road also ensured that we don't dare visit monuments at Gyraspur.

I had to meet a friend - my army batch mate after 25 years - in Sagar. Earliest we could have left Sagar would have been 9 PM. We check with locals how the condition of NH after Sagar. We hear that it is as bad as the one we had driven from Sanchi. We decide against travelling at night on such road and decide to stay put in Sagar. Thus our plan to stay in Alipura Palace in Chattarpur becomes a casualty.

NH 86 also known as "Misery"

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc03381.jpg
Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc03382.jpg

Paradise looks to be the only decent hotel in this dusty/dirty town. The place from outside looked fine and we enter the hotel, we could see pan stains in the corners. We take “Deluxe room” which is very spacious and bath room OK. My friend joins us for a drink and we spend the evening talking about nostalgic memories.

We lose half a day to due to bad roads and we abandon the plan to stay in Chhattarpur. With this kind of roads, we did not want to take the risk of driving at night. We plan is to leave early next day – 6 AM – so that we can reach Khajuraho by lunch. We go to bed around 11 PM and hope to get some good sleep. That is not to be. We toss and twirl and catch some winks. In the morning I see some blood stains on the sheets My guess comes right and bed bugs had a ball in the night at the cost of our sleep!!

We check with the guy handling reception about alternate road and he suggests going via Lalitpur – Tikamgarh as the road is excellent though we had to an extra distance of 80 KMs. We did not want to experience yesterday’s misery of driving on bad roads.

And the journey continues……..

Next stop ......Spellbinding and Sensual KHAJURAHO.
Fauji is offline  
Old 4th November 2011, 21:36   #48
BHPian
 
bilalsyed's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Lucknow
Posts: 63
Thanked: 19 Times
Re: Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh

Quote:
Originally Posted by Fauji View Post
Bilal bhai,

Lucknow is unfortuantely underrated on the tourist circuit. It is a place where one can spend a complete day seeing the sights, eating the avadhi/lucknowi food and buying Lucknowi stuff like Chikan. Add to that what Mayavati has built - debates apart - which is amazing, you need another day!! You need time to get soaked in "City of Adabs"

I like the river front garden done by Lucknow Muncipal corporation. I don't want to give away secrets now itself before i reach your city.
Agreed. A week is the minimum But its a fab place and you are going to enjoy every bit of it. Mayawati Lucknow is worth seeing in the night. Lights, music fountains I can bet someone who lands up in that part of town now after being away for 15 years.. will go into shock !!

Lucknow walon ki taraf se, Lucknow ki sarzami pe, ham aapka tah-e-dil se Isteqbaal karte hain..

P.S: don't miss the 5 star Guard rooms Maya didi has made for her security guards.
bilalsyed is offline  
Old 8th November 2011, 16:29   #49
Senior - BHPian
 
Fauji's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Bangalore
Posts: 1,471
Thanked: 994 Times
Day 6 (29 Sep) - Khajuraho - Sensual Poetry in Stone!

Total Distance - 352 KMs
Departure time -6.30 AM (Sagar)
Arrival time - 1 PM (Khajuraho)
Road condition - Mixed
Breaks - Tikamgarh for tea (15 Mins)
Max speed - 130 KMPH on NH 26 (I never crossed this limit throughout the trip)
Best stretches - Sagar - Lalitpur (only on NH 26), Tikamgarh - Chattarpur
Worst - Few KMs after Sagar Town and Tikamgarh Town

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-khaj-google.jpg

As planned we got up early and hit the road around 6.30 AM. We did not want to go through the hell known as NH 83 and followed the advice by the hotel guy to go via Lalitpur – Tikamgarh. Staying in Alipura Palace was ruled out as we did not want to take a chance of driving back and forth of 65 KMs – the distance between Khajuraho and the hotel. Our plan to stay in Alipura was with an assumption that the road condition will be good. Our experience of driving on NH 83 was good enough to not trust MP roads.

The road from the hotel to bye- pass – a distance of 15 KMs - was horrible. As we neared the bye pass, the small road connecting the high way was still worse. Thanks to Scorpio with good GC we were able to hit the high way.

From now onwards it was a pleasant drive till Lalitpur. The sun was coming out and the cattle were out of their sheds and on to the road. There were hundreds of them on the road and this invariably acted as speed breakers. Add to that the villagers virtually occupy one portion of the highway to dry their produce. I remember J Ravi writing about it in his TL – Leh in Linea – and I am not sure why the authorities have allowed this to happen. There is no traffic on this stretch of road but that does not mean that the villagers have to take over the road.

Cattle moving for their daily routine early in the morning

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-img00190201109290703.jpg

Mounds of farm produce left for drying on the road

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-img00191201109290730.jpg

We crossed Tikamgarh and now we were on a single lane road. Damaged in some parts due to rain, it was manageable as there wasn’t much traffic. After fifteen KMs, the road changed into a fantastic two lane road till Chattarpur. The landscape was green – thanks to rain – we crossed many rivers flowing full.

Betwa river

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-img00194201109300921.jpg

On the way we noticed this beautiful fort in Baldevgarh. It looked lovely with cupolas open to sky reminding the architecture of Mandu. I was not sure what was inside the fort, who was taking care of it. The local said that the fort is still held by the Maharaja of Baldevgarh. I am sure that this would another place to visit in future.

Baldevgarh fort from a distance

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc03383.jpg

The road from Chattarpur to Khajuraho was getting re-laid and that slowed us down considerably as traffic also increased. We were now used to bad roads and after driving on NH 83, any road looked good. The last fifteen KMs before Khajuraho was an excellent double lane road.

On the previous day, we had called up Taj Chandela and had got good bargain – there seems to be heavy competition amongst the star hotels who want to catch the guests. All major brands except Oberoi and Leela are here. Being start of the season and a week day we were able to strike a good deal. As we checked in, the front office manager had pleasant news. They had upgraded us to a suite!!

The suite was fabulous. We freshened up and came over to the restaurant. Had real good lunch – we had not had breakfast – and the preparation was excellent. A bit of rest, we were ready to leave to see the western temples at 4 PM. It was pretty hot out there even in Oct.

The temple complex is at a distance of 1 KM from the hotel. Khajuraho is a small town. There are three temple complexes in Khajuraho.

a)Western group – the largest and most artistic

b) Eastern group

c) Southern group

Most of the visitors come to see Western group. If one has time one can also visit the other groups as well. We could only visit the western group of temples as it got dark.

When we speak about Khajuraho, first thing that comes to our mind are the erotic sculptures. No doubt, there are. But Khajuraho is much more than that. The temples are massive, sculptures are refined and graceful. I can say it is “Elegance personified”. The most beautiful sculptures in Khajuraho are those of “Sura Sundaris” or “Apsaras”, Gods and Goddesses including dikpalakas and the erotic ones. In between you will find sculptures – specailly around the plinth – depicting the general life of the time and also those of animals. It is just magnificent!!

The erotic sculptures are not gross and emit exuberant grace. The refinement is so good that you can actually see rare sensitivity and warmth of emotion on the face of the loving couples. Though there are many interpretations as to how these sculptures came into being. Whatever is the interpretation of the erotic scenes sculpted on the walls of temples of Khajuraho, there is certainly nothing sordid or coarse about them.

As one of the eminent art historian Krishna Deva says

“The sculptural art of Khajuraho surpasses the medieval school of Orissa in revealing sensuous charms of the human body. Inspired by an ecstatic joy of living and consuming passion for physical beauty, the artists of Khajuraho reveled in admiring human body, displaying it from the most fascinating angles – fine profiles, unusual three quarter profiles and back views.

These sculptures are justly famous for their remarkable vitality”

(Quoted in the excellent monograph published by ASI on Khajuraho in association with Eicher which we picked up in Sanchi. ASI has come out with an excellent series of monographs on World heritage sites in the country)

In the words of Louis Frederic, the eminent French historian who has authored an excellent book titled KHAJURAHO with Raghu Rai.

"One is overwhelmed by the number and beauty of the sculptures on the outer walls of the Khajuraho temples. It is curious to see how the artists have composed their works - humans as well as divinities, single or in couples....."

It also reminded me of the famous Kannada poem by the great poet KUVEMPU which he wrote after visiting the World heritage Site of Halebidu in Karnataka
(translated from Kannada by me)

Oh thy visitor
Step into this temple with folded hands
this is not just "stone"
but a fine web of art!

I will now take you through the spell binding spectacle called Khajuraho!!

Let us explore the temples in Western group.....the Grandest.

The layout of the complex

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc03688.jpg

Lakshmana Temple - The first temple in the complex

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc_0181.jpg

Eastern elevation of Lakshmana temple - Notice the row of elephants at the plinth

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc03385.jpg

Sculpture on the walls of Lakshmana temple

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc_0186.jpg

Entrance thorana of Lakshmana temple

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc_0204.jpg

The staue of Ganesha on the walls of Lakshmana temple

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc_0183.jpg

The shikara – tower – of Matangeshwara temple. This is the only living temple.

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc_0202.jpg

Varaha temple with exquisitely carved massive Varaha

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc_0177.jpg

Kandariya Mahadeva temple as seen from Lakshmana temple

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc_0200.jpg

Kandariya Mahadeva and Jagadambika temple complex with a small ruined Shiva shrine in the middle

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc03395.jpg

Kandariya Mahadeva temple in full glory

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc_0208.jpg

Khandariya Mahadeva temple – the grandest in Khajuraho. Notice the cascading shikaras.

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc_0211.jpg

Shiva shrine

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc_0206.jpg

Kandariya Mahadeva temple with Jagadambika temple
Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc_0210.jpg

Chitragupta temple

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc_0224.jpg

Jagadambika temple with mythical beast in the foreground

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc_0237.jpg

Vishwanatha temple as seen from Chitragupta temple

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc_0240.jpg

Vishwanatha temple

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc_0249.jpg

In front of Vishwanatha temple

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc_0251.jpg

Nandi shrine in front of Vishwanatha temple

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc_0253.jpg

Parvathi shrine

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc_0254.jpg

New temple built during the last years

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc_0250.jpg

to be continued.....Surasundaris, Apsaras and Kamasutra in stone!!!
Fauji is offline   (1) Thanks
Old 8th November 2011, 17:01   #50
Senior - BHPian
 
Sudipto-S-Team's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: Kolkata
Posts: 1,320
Thanked: 290 Times
Re: Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh

As is my wont, I had completely missed this superb thread earlier. Fantastic. Speechless with the photographs.
Sudipto-S-Team is offline   (1) Thanks
Old 9th November 2011, 11:19   #51
Senior - BHPian
 
Fauji's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Bangalore
Posts: 1,471
Thanked: 994 Times
Re: Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh

Quote:
Originally Posted by bilalsyed View Post
Agreed. A week is the minimum But its a fab place and you are going to enjoy every bit of it. Mayawati Lucknow is worth seeing in the night. Lights, music fountains I can bet someone who lands up in that part of town now after being away for 15 years.. will go into shock !!

Lucknow walon ki taraf se, Lucknow ki sarzami pe, ham aapka tah-e-dil se Isteqbaal karte hain..

P.S: don't miss the 5 star Guard rooms Maya didi has made for her security guards.
So these guards are really lucky!! BTW what she has done to build those parks etc is phenomenal. It will become a tourist attaraction on its own. Hopefully they will be well maintained. In future. Someone in Lucknow should start a "Heritage walk" like we have in different cities today. I happenned to see many nice british bungalows in the citystill standing.
Fauji is offline  
Old 9th November 2011, 15:18   #52
BHPian
 
bilalsyed's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Lucknow
Posts: 63
Thanked: 19 Times
Re: Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh

Quote:
Originally Posted by Fauji View Post
So these guards are really lucky!! BTW what she has done to build those parks etc is phenomenal. It will become a tourist attaraction on its own. Hopefully they will be well maintained. In future. Someone in Lucknow should start a "Heritage walk" like we have in different cities today. I happenned to see many nice british bungalows in the citystill standing.
We have this heritage walk but its mostly through the older part of town. The Sad part is that builders are breaking down old british bunglows "Havelis" as we call and building apartment. One of our family frnds were asked to vacate their 100 year old well maintained mansion to make space for IIPM !!

There is a building called "Hawai jahaz wali kothi" it has the front end of an aircraft fixed to the top of it. will post pics once i get hold of em
bilalsyed is offline   (1) Thanks
Old 11th November 2011, 08:04   #53
Senior - BHPian
 
Fauji's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Bangalore
Posts: 1,471
Thanked: 994 Times
Khajuraho - Surasundaris, Apsaras and Kamasutra in stone!!

Exploring Khajuraho is exciting indeed. As I mentioned, the frieze of sculptures on the walls of these temples are astonishing. The artists have not left any place blank and have filled them with exquisite work.

As a plan you normally see the depiction of village life on the plinth - it may be groups of people celebrating during festivals etc. However the main walls are resplendent with most beautiful sculptures of Surasundaris, Apsararas, Gods, Goddesses, Couples in love and of course the erotic sculptures. In short, each niche holds a sculpture or a group, women and lovers, or the figure of a divinity.

The beauty of these panels is the sculptures are all dispersed and if someone thinks that all “erotic” sculptures can be found on one wall, he will be dejected! In fact, you have to really look out for these erotic sculptures hidden amongst other forms. Only in Kandariya Mahadeva temple, left and right walls have three such sculptures in the centre. The refinement of these sculptures is so good that it seems like a precursor to the magnificent Hoysala Temples in Karnataka where the artistry reached the zenith.

“Amorous and erotic couples include some of the finest sculptural compositions of Khajuraho, vibrating with rare sensitiveness and warmth of human emotion. Most of these couples are distinguished by an expression of intense absorption and rapture, which transcends from physical to spiritual plane” – Quoted in the ASI monograph

Now over to the visual treat.......

Frieze of sculptures on the wall of Kandariya Mahadeva Temple – Notice different forms – Erotic, Surasundaris, Divinities and mythical beasts jostling for space

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc03396.jpg

Another example of artistic panel in Kandariya Mahadeva temple – Look at the left corner of first row from bottom to see beautiful Surasundari removing a thorn from her feet . Also notice the depiction of village life different forms in small size in a row at plinth

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc_0189.jpg

The corner filled with different figurines – no blank space to waste!

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc_0193.jpg

Eastern corner in Kandariya Mahadeva temple – Everyone gets their due. Notice pillars which are adorned by beautiful sculptures of Ganas lifting it as support

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc_01961.jpg

A beautiful frieze in Vishwanatha temple - Notice the depiction of village life different forms in small size in a row at plinth

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc_01971.jpg

A beautiful frieze in Kandariya Mahadeva temple – The mythical beast takes central place. Normally you find animal figures in the corner niches

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc_01981.jpg

An array of sculptures at the entrance of ruined Shiva temple

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc_0182.jpg

Shiva – Parvathi with Nandi

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc_0213.jpg

Ganas supporting a pillar

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc_0214.jpg

Mystical beast and maiden – what is she up to?

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc_0225.jpg

Surasundaris and Apsaras

Surasundari – Kandariya Mahadeva temple

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc03391.jpg

Surasundari with mirror – notice the adornment and refinement of lines
Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc03392.jpg

Surasundari removing thorn from her feet along with her child – Look at the concentration on her face!!

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-maiden-7.jpg

Surasundari undressing - Notice the beautiful Mithuna sculpture next to her and read the quote from ASI monograph again. It is all beauty here!

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc_02331.jpg

Surasundari undressing – Elegant! It can’t be more explicit than this!!

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-maiden-8.jpg

to be continued....Kamasutra in stone!!
Fauji is offline  
Old 12th November 2011, 18:28   #54
Senior - BHPian
 
Fauji's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Bangalore
Posts: 1,471
Thanked: 994 Times
Kamasutra in stone - sensual erotic poetry!

Khajuraho temples are well known for their erotic sculptures. These sculptures are uninhibited. There are couples making love. Groups involved in sexual activity. Animals too become part of the ritual. Anything goes but it is never depicted in a coarse and ugly manner. For Indians in those ages, Kama was one of the "Purushartha" for attaining moksha.

As we were going around, an indian guide accompaying an aged English couple was explaining these sculptures. After giving all the details, he said

"Don't try to experiment these positions. It is not possible at your age!!!!"

The couple laughed it away.

Here is the sensual poetry in stone!!

A frieze in Kandariya Mahadeva temple

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc03386.jpg

Another array of sculptures in the same temple

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc034091.jpg

Another array of sculptures in the same temple

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc034101.jpg

Erotic sculptures from close quarters!!

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc_0215.jpg


Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc_0216.jpg


Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc_0222.jpg


Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc_0223.jpg


Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc_0229.jpg

Mithuna sculptures - Couples in love

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc_0228.jpg


Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc_0232.jpg

Group rituals

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-img_0748a1.jpg


Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-p5092559.jpg


Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-5375894645_25eee4bcb1_b11.jpg


Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-197917722_63588eb598_b1.jpg


Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-img_0748a.jpg

to be continued......more Surasundaris and Khajuraho @ Sun set!!
Attached Thumbnails
Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc03399.jpg  

Fauji is offline  
Old 13th November 2011, 21:24   #55
BHPian
 
bilalsyed's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Lucknow
Posts: 63
Thanked: 19 Times
Re: Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh

aaaha !! This thing is going great with a lot of awesome pics Waiting for more sir..
bilalsyed is offline  
Old 14th November 2011, 14:13   #56
Senior - BHPian
 
Fauji's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Bangalore
Posts: 1,471
Thanked: 994 Times
More Surasundaris, Mithunas and Sunset @ Khajuraho

Surasundari disrobing!

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-maiden-9.jpg

Surasundari applying Henna to her feet - Very beautiful. Look at the details in the sculpture!

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-youarehere..1169298600.henna1.jpg

Surasundari painting the wall

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-youarehere..1169298600.painting1.jpg

A beautiful sculpture of a Surasundari - look at the curves!!

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-khajuraho71.jpg

Two Surasundaris

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc_0220.jpg

Couples in Love - Mithuna

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc_0234.jpg

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc_0236.jpg

Sex among the same gender was not a taboo then!!

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-lesb.jpg

Scenes on the plinth which generally depict day to day life in society

Horse riders

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-horse-raiders.jpg

Elephant taming

Name:  elephant tamers.jpg
Views: 3603
Size:  28.7 KB

A scene @ Gurukul

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-711.jpg

Procession of Musicians

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-9musicians11.jpg

Life in Khajuraho

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-life-khaj.jpg

Apart from the sculptures of Surasundaris, couples, erotic postures and mythical beasts, you will also find those of hindu gods and tirthankaras. I was surpised to spot this beautiful Yama sculpture in Jagadambi temple

Yama - god of death!

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-youarehere..1169298600.yama1.jpg

Tirthankara

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-youarehere..1169298600.mahavir1.jpg

The sun was playing hide and seek and getting set to go down the horizon. The silhouettes of the shikaras of Kandariya Mahadeva temple looked magical with sun setting behind.

Sun playing hide and seek - Jagadambi and Shiva temple forms silhoutte

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc_0238.jpg

Setting sun with Shikharas of Kandariya Mahadeva and Jagadami forming perfect silhouettes

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc_0243.jpg

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dsc_0246.jpg

It is now more than two hours in the sun and we were feeling a bit tired. The complex closes at sun set again to open at 8 PM for a Sound and light show. This means we had to hang around for another one and half hours or come back again which somehow did not enthuse us. We also wanted to explore the shops for any knick knacks. In fact we got some nice antique wooden dolls. We could strike a bargain as the season had not peaked.

We also could not see Eastern and Southern group of temples. We thought we will do that before breakfast provided we got up early next day!!

The next day was to be a long drive. Not from distance perspective but because of road conditions. HVK had forewarned road conditions from Khajuraho to Banaras. I called him up and asked him if i can take a detour via Allahabad. He said that would be good idea since i would be avoiding some bad roads and also gives me a chance to see Prayag. However, he cautioned me to be prepared for bad roads on this as well.

We went to sleep mentally prepared to rough it out the next day.

In the hind sight, Khajuraho requires two full days if one wants to do justice. This can be stretched by another day if one wants to see wild life in Panna. Ajaygarh and Kalinjar forts are also not to be missed and can be done as a day's outing.

Kalinjar Fort - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ajaigarh - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

PS - I had not clicked some of the Surasundari and daily life images. But was amazed to see them when i zoomed into other pictures during post processing and cropped them into independant pictures as they look very elegant. That's why they may look smaller in size.

To be continued - Day 7 - Panna, Prayag and driving in UP!!
Fauji is offline  
Old 15th November 2011, 13:39   #57
Senior - BHPian
 
Fauji's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Bangalore
Posts: 1,471
Thanked: 994 Times
Some more nice pictures from Khajuaraho which i left out

Sorry folks.

I had left out some nice pictures of social life and surasundaris which i forgot to attach yesterday. Before we move on to Allahabad and Banaras, i thought of attaching them now.

Take a look.

Musicians

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-musicians.jpg

Royal processions

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-procession.jpg


Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-procession-2.jpg

Dikpalaka

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-dikpalakas.jpg

A rishi - notice the figures surrounding him. Are they his disciples?

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-rishi.jpg

Surasundari I

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-maiden-2.jpg

Surasundari II

Name:  maiden 3.jpg
Views: 3504
Size:  60.9 KB

Surasundari III

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-maiden-4.jpg

Surasundari and the mirror - Notice the position of the mirror!!

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-maiden-51.jpg

Surasundari scratching her back!!

Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh-maiden-61.jpg

Last edited by Fauji : 15th November 2011 at 13:40.
Fauji is offline   (1) Thanks
Old 15th November 2011, 16:51   #58
MX6
Senior - BHPian
 
MX6's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: City of seven islands.
Posts: 2,877
Thanked: 231 Times
Re: Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh

Fauji. Don't know how I missed this lovely thread earlier. Still in the first page. But when I saw the pics of Jhira Baug, I just stopped there admiring that place. What a wonderful place you guys stayed at. Way to go sir. Amazing log till what I've read! BTW, any trips planned to Mumbai in future? Samrat at churchgate is waiting!
MX6 is offline  
Old 17th November 2011, 15:12   #59
Senior - BHPian
 
Fauji's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Bangalore
Posts: 1,471
Thanked: 994 Times
Re: Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh

Quote:
Originally Posted by MX6 View Post
Fauji. Don't know how I missed this lovely thread earlier. Still in the first page. But when I saw the pics of Jhira Baug, I just stopped there admiring that place. What a wonderful place you guys stayed at. Way to go sir. Amazing log till what I've read! BTW, any trips planned to Mumbai in future? Samrat at churchgate is waiting!
Thanks for your kind note MX6. The journey cutting across the country was a fascinating and learning experience for us. We really had good time in Banaras, Orcha, Lucknow etc. Yes. Jhira baug is a hidden gem. Lovingly restored by present owner. They are building a swimming pool which should be welcome. When I come to Bombay, will definitely ping you!
Fauji is offline  
Old 17th November 2011, 16:46   #60
BHPian
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Chennai/Kuwait
Posts: 502
Thanked: 354 Times
Re: Fauji's Drivologues - Fascinating Fortnight in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh

Fauji great photos of Khajureho temple complexes.
What a civilization. What a rich heritage we as indians inherited. What a open minded society then it was? What a public sex education method through temple sculputure display making sex holy. As knowing about sex and being open minded about sex are key for healthy individual/society.

Khajureho temples are A must place to visit for any educated /earning young indian couple to learn our rich heritage. Today unfortunately our society treats sex a taboo topic at Indian families and resultant society that has gradually decayed into hipocrisy.

Thanks for sharing the photos.

Last edited by harimakesh : 17th November 2011 at 16:51.
harimakesh is offline  
Reply

Most Viewed
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Team-BHP.com
Proudly powered by E2E Networks