wedding. We didn't get to bed til after 4am and the rituals were
still going on! What a blast though!
Next stop after Delhi: the small town called Khajuharo, known for it's
exquisite Hindu temples covered in Kama Sutra imagery. (This was a
week ago... I';m a little backed up on the blog). We got to explore
the temples with our amazing guide, Anu, who turned out to be a
professor with a masters in art history. The whole day was basically
this incredible, private lecture about the history, philosophy,
architecture, symbolism and religion of the temples. I was in heaven!
So now I'm gonna spend the rest of this blog gushing about all the
stuff I learned because my assumption in life is that everyone is as
equally nerdy and enthusiastic as I am.
So, the temples were built about a 1000 years ago by the Candela
Dynasty. They had 2 capitals in order to have one for their spiritual
center and one for a political center... thus being one of the first
great powers to introduce the idea of separation of church and state.
The location of Khajuharo was chosen because 1) it is completely
surrounded by mountains 2) it has thick layers of granite in the soil
that can support the weight of the temples and 3) it is safe from
earthquakes. Geologists figured that out 1000 years ago mind you!
All the temples face the east, because the rising sun is considered a
deity and the source of energy and power. Because the temples are an
expression of the microcosmic world they need its energy too. They
were built to mimic the Himalayan mountains because that's where it's
believed the gods live. Each massive temple houses the image of a
single god. When the statue eventually cracks, it is believed that
the spirit of that god escapes and reunites with the total union of
god. The temple is therefore no longer a place of worship and a whole
new temple has to be constructed. In Khajuharo, one temple of the
original 84 remains active with its statue in tact. The rest are
relics.
The imagery on the temple walls was organized into rows that were
meant to teach lessons. The outside of the temple included images
meant to represent the physical world and the inside represents the
cosmic world. Before entering, it was customary to circle the temple
because it is not possible to understand the cosmic world without
first understanding the physical. The bottom level represents a
creation story depicted through lotus flowers, chosen for their
ability to grow out of the mud with no root system. Then a row a
demon heads about that. It is believed to keep negative forces out of
the temple because when 2 negative come together they transform into a
positive (like the law of adding 2 negative numbers together). The
reason why only the heads of the demons are depicted is because it is
believed that when people are consumed with selfishness, they will eat
up the world and all of its resources and when there is nothing left
it will eventually consume itself all the way up to its head.
Above that is a row of elephants each with 2 masters. Elephants
represent strength and stability and thus the foundation of the world.
When controlled by masters who have only consciousness, there is
peace and beauty. When controlled by masters who have ignorance there
is death and destruction. The artist would depict this by showing
elephants holding lotus flowers with good masters, and crushing humans
with bad masters. Every so often the artist would spice things up....
one example being an elephant watching its masters getting in on
rather than tending to it. The elephant has a woman embraced by its
trunk in the midst of some pretty intense heavy petting. Our guide
pointed out, ""okay, now the important lesson here ladies is that when
you make love in the future, make sure there are no elephants in the
room!"". Noted.
The following levels represent the 4 levels of human experience:
perversion, perfection, sublimation, and enlightenment, depicted
mostly through eroticism. It acts as a guide for how to transform
your sexual energy all the way to enlightenment through the perfect
union of man and woman. The bottom level of perversion is where you
find all the orgies, beastiality, and homosexuality. When you look
further up you see couples in crazy kama sutra poses passionately
embraced in pure love.
When we entered inside the temple we sat down and our guide asked us,
""Why do you think it is so much cooler inside of the temple?". ""Um,
because we're out of the sun?"" ""No! Because there is no eroticism
on the inside!"" We had a blast. It was probably my favorite place
in India.
Next we saw the Taj in Agra and lots of amazing forts and palaces in
Jaipur. Rode an elephant, a camel, got our palms read. (Apparently
my future husband has a ''very strong sex power'... hmmm yeah sounds
about right:)
Then flew to Bangkok, bused to Cambodia. Stayed in Siem Reap for 3
days. Had some crazy nights full of dancing and swimming pools.
Frisked down by fake bouncers in front of many amused onlookers.
Midnight strolls hand in hand with a transvestite prostitute who Laura
told I may be interested in some company with. Incidentally, she
turned out to be very sweet. Many many many offers for tuk-tuk rides
and eventually getting fed up and asking for a piggy back ride across
the street... which was received graciously.
Tonight: overnight bus to the coast! HERE'S TO THE BEACHES!!
~~Cathy
No comments:
Post a Comment