The Historical Temple Sculptures

The temple stairs lead to a platform decorated with rich sculpted figures of women in a variety of poses. There are women playing with a ball, some engaged in writing a letter, others applying make-up and absorbed in a multitude of other activities. On the southern and northern sides, between the balconies are the large-scale erotic panels. In fact the mithuna (sensuously carved erotic figures) on the Kandariya Mahadev include some of the most energetic eroticism to be seen at Khajuraho.Below the bands of the main body of the temple are smaller, narrower friezes depicting court life, the army, and processions of elephants and horses. This Khajuraho temple is can be approached by the eastern stairway that has the most fantastically ornate toran (frieze) of the entire group of temples. The floral toran is carved out of a single block of stone.