The North Indian temple-

Khajuraho Nagara style

Prof. Hari K. G. Nambiar

Beginnings

• Built in the period 950 A.D.- 1050 A.D. under the reign of Dhanga (950-
1002)
• At the height of its prosperity Khajuraho the capital is said to have
possessed 85 temples, today 22 remain.
• The earliest of them is the Chaunsath Yogini temple as old as Khajuraho,
before the tenth century. A primitive complex of little granite shrines
aligned around a huge courtyard measuring 31m x 18m.
The Lakshmana temple
The
Lakshmana
temple
It was consecrated in
954 A.D., in the reign
of King Dhanga. The
temple is built
entirely in sandstone
and is a culmination
of the evolution
Hindu temple
architecture.
The Lakshmana temple • The temple stands on a rectangular
platform roughly 45m by 30m.
Four small temples stand at the
corners of the esplanade
(panchyatana). Two of these
temples, framing the apse of the
temple, open to the East, as does
the main temple; the other two
face each other on either side of
the main entrance staircase.
• The high plinth of the temple is
decorated with friezes of reliefs
representing a procession in which
horses, elephants, warriors and
battle scenes can be seen.
 The Lakshmana temple
• The temple itself is on exactly the same
plan as that of the most refined of these
temples, the Kandariya Mahadeva, a plan
echoed, with small variations, in the Devi
Jagadambi, the Parshvanatha, the
Vishvanatha and the Chitragupta
temples. All of them have a vestibule
(ardha-mandapa), dance or meeting hall
(mandapa) and sanctum (garbhagriha).
All of them have towers with convex
curvature, whose parabolic profiles reach
up to the sky. And on each shikhara, the
central body is buttressed by subsidiary
turrets that rise in a sheaf towards the
amalaka at the summit and the kalasha
that crowns it.
 The Kandariya Mahadeva temple
• Built in the reign of Vidyadhara (1017-
1029 A.D.) is raised on a 4m high plinth.
The temple is 22m long and 12.5m wide
excluding the balconies and verandas
that project laterally and extend the
‘apse’ end. The shikhara is 32m high.
• A large axial staircase giving access to
the platform leads to the square
entrance, with its two pillars on either
side; the sides of the entrance are open
above a parapet wall.
• Then comes the oblong ardha mandapa,
or vestibule, whose roof is supported by
eight pillars.
The Kandariya Mahadeva temple
• There are bays on either side
that lead to projecting verandas.
The roof structure of the
verandas is supported by two
pillars, and their transverse
projection emphasizes the
cruciform plan of the mandapa.
• The garbhagriha is surrounded
by a circumbulatory corridor.
There are verandas on either
side of the garbhagriha and a
fifth veranda terminates the
apse.
The Kandariya Mahadeva temple

The veranda of the temple forms The western side veranda of the
lateral & axial buttresses. temple
The Kandariya Mahadeva temple
The Kandariya Mahadeva temple
• The shikhara of the temple is the
standard Nagara formula, with the
surging convex volumes of the
turrets. They seem to spring upwards
from the cornice and are themselves
composed of dimunitive shikharas,
whose stepped proliferation
reproduces the principle ornamental
motif- the candrashala.
• All these structures, from the
smallest to the largest, buttress one
another and lead the eye up to the
culminating point.
The Chitragupta temple
The Devi Jagadamba temple
Stages of Development of
the Shikhara of Khajuraho
temples 950 to 1050 A.D.