There's not much old Hindu architecture left in north India - the Mughals destroyed most - 
so Khajuraho was the place for me to discover the surging fountain- or mountain-like shikara roofs, the art nouveau-like ornament, and the wonderful harmony of the carved figures which undulate around them like a dance. Nobody quite knows what these temples (10th-12th century) are about. (Actually the one at right above is 19th century, an ecumenical gesture with spires supposed to look Hindu, Buddhist and Muslim.) Khajuraho's temples are most famous for the fact that some of their many carvings are erotic, but pictures of these carvings out of context decisively lose their meaning, whatever it is. This is not eros masquerading as numen, or trampling on it, and as the balanced busyness of lines of dancers and elephants coiling around the the temples while gods, divine beings, couples and sacred dragons arch and twist in bands above them show, it's something more profound than the numen masquerading as eros.We saw the finest of Khujuraho's surviving temples (the Mughals destroyed many then seem to have forgotten about the rest) on a rainy day. This turned out to be a good thing,
as crowds were limited (this is a big tourist destination, and for more kinds of tourists than one may wish to ponder). Also it seems the sculptures are more beautiful in the rain - you can see them better with the stone darkened by moisture, the fugures not seared by sun and shadow.I'll leave you to stroll among the temples as we did. Notice that in most cases the columns of carved human and divine figures are separated by recessed carvings of various kinds of dragons. (One picture is a bit salacious, though I find it's rather more funny than titillating.) Remember that you can expand each picture by clicking on it.
