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Khajuraho Travel Guide

Western Group of Temples

The Western group is certainly the best known, because it is to this group that the largest and most typical Khajuraho temple belongs: The Kandariya Mahadev.

Chitragupta Temple
A three- headed image of Brahma is enshrined in this temple. The approach is equally impressive, with lions flanking the northern and elephants the southern steps that lead up to it. A Nandi bull faces the shrine.

Kandariya Mahadeo
The largest, most typical Khajuraho temple, it soars 31 m high. Dedicated to shiva, the sanctum sanctorum enshrines a lingam. The main shrine is exquisitely carved and features, in delicate detail, gods, goddesses, celestial maidens and lovers. Particularly noteworthy are the entrance arch, the ceilings and pillars of the interior compartments.

Chaunsat Yogini
The only granite temple and the earliest surviving shrine of the group (900 A.D.), it is dedicated to Kali. Only 35 of the orginal 65 shrines remain. Another Kali temple (originally dedicated to Vishnu) is the Devi Jagdambe Temple.

Lakshamana Temple
The lintel over the entrance of this beautiful Vaishnavite temple shows the trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva with Lakshmi, Vishnu's idol of Vishnu's incarnations, Narasimha and Varaha. This boar incarnation also appears in a nine-feet high statue at the Varaha Temple.

Matangeswara Temple
Still a living place of worship, the temple is dedicated to shiva, has an eight feet high lingam, and is outside the precincts of the Western Group.