Hundreds of curvaceous nymphs adorn the outside of the temple, jewelled necklaces conceal little of their breasts. Between scenes of elephants and soldiers, flute-players and dragons, fleshy, ornamented couples, are depictions of groups of men and women engaging in acrobatic sexual positions. One shows a man in a head-stand penetrating a female who is being held upright by two voluptuous nymphs. Inside the inner sanctum of the temple, a Brahmin priest is chanting in front of a Shiva lingum, the phallic symbol of the Hindu God Shiva.
A sculpture on the outside of Kandariya Manadev Temple, Khajuraho
This is Kandariya Manadev Temple, one of the larger temples in Khajuraho, a small village in the rural state of Madhya Pradesh in central India. Khajuraho’s temples are famous for their erotic sculptures, which in a country renowned for its sexual conservativeness, appear quite a contradiction. Images show men and women openly enjoying sex; oral sex; the use of fingers; hand masturbation. Yet sexual imagery only covers around 10% of the temples in Khajuraho, with the artwork believed to depict all elements of life in Indian society, from the writing of letters to the cradling of babies.
Khajuarho is not the only example of India’s erotic history; sexual sculptures can be found in historical sites across the country. Shiva’s phallus, placed on the female yoni, is widely worshipped as a symbol of the union of male and female, procreation and the continuity of existence; and the Kama Sutra, the great Sanskrit guide to sexual behaviour written in India almost two millennia ago, describes a society where sex and sexual desire were openly considered important components of life.
However, in India today sex is a highly taboo subject, with pre-marital sex and live-in relationships in opposition to societal conventions. As recently as 2005, 22 court cases were filed against the Bollywood actress Khushboo after she made comments in an interview in favour of such arrangements. In the same year, in response to an attempt by the central government to introduce a sex education programme to schools, 12 states banned the programme claiming it was ‘contrary to Indian culture and morality’ and would increase the likelihood of underage sex and ‘risky behaviour’. For similar reasons, in 2017 condom adverts were banned on daytime television.
Resting in the shade, Khajuraho
It is March, and the summer heat is intensifying throughout the day, forcing extended afternoon rests in the shade of the lassi shop. As I sip my sweet lassi, the hot, dry wind engulfing me in bursts, I discuss attitudes towards sex with Saroj, a 26 year-old Indian student from Delhi. ‘Not that long ago, many Indians believed you could get pregnant from kissing. Even today, the subject of sex is still smothered with silence and taboos. And with increased access to the internet in recent years, more and more teenagers are having sex, but conservative attitudes mean the young do not have access to adequate sex education.’ What could have happened, I wondered, to change attitudes so dramatically since the time of the Kama Sutra.
Sex was first mentioned in Indian literature in the Rig Veda, a collection of Sanskrit hymns composed in the 2nd millennium BC. The Rig Veda is one of the four Vedas, texts of knowledge, which are considered to be the oldest Hindu scriptures. It described how the world started with kama, a term used to describe desire or longing, including sexual desire. The first being experienced kama but had no other to enjoy it with so it was split into two, a man and a woman, who could both enjoy kama and produce the first humans.
An ornamented couple, Khajuraho
For Hindus, kama is one of the four fundamental goals of human existence, along with dharma (living a proper and moral life), artha (creation of wealth) and moksha (liberation). Kama is also embodied in the deity Kama, a beautiful creature whose bow and arrow is said to trigger creativity and passion. For the Hindu faith, both the concept and god celebrate the act of and the joy in procreation, key to the existence of humans. Indeed, Hindu mythology is peppered with stories of gods engaging in sexual activities, separate from the institution of marriage. The poem “The Birth of Kumara” by the great Sanskrit writer Kalidasa describes the centuries-long love-making of Shiva and Parvati. Krishna, the incarnation of the god Vishnu, is famous for his sexual exploits with Radha, the cowherd maiden, and many other village girls, none of whom he goes on to marry despite eventually marrying 16108 times.
However, pursuit of kama does not avoid conflict with the other goals of Hinduism, resulting in a perpetual struggle between the sensual and ascetic elements of the faith. For beings working to attain emancipation from the cycle of death and rebirth (i.e. moksha), kama disrupts this process by distracting from the practice of meditation. Satisfying personal desire is contradictory to pursuing non-attachment to all other objects and beings. Shiva and Parvati’s epic love-making was interrupted when Shiva decided to reject sexual desire and withdraw to the Himalayas for centuries in solitary meditation. A furious Parvati sent the Kama to reawaken Shiva to desire, but in rage Shiva focused the spiritual power of his meditation and suppressed ejaculations to destroy Kama, leaving him bodiless.
Nine (?) person orgy at Lakshmana Temple, Khajuraho
War and erotica, Khajuraho
In Buddhism, a significant religion in India in the first half of the first millennium CE, kama is described as mara, the demon of desire whose defeat is required in order to attain enlightenment. By the 3rd century CE, in both Hinduism and Buddhism puritanical ascetic elements were starting to take hold and sex was increasingly seen as a source of contamination. It was in this conflicted society that the Kama Sutra was written as an attempt to preserve and collect knowledge on the sensual elements of classical India.
It is believed to have been written around 3rd century CE by a man called Vatsyayana, at a time when city states and princely courts were flourishing. Poets, actors, scientists were patronised by Hindu princes and princesses seeking sensual satisfaction. The Kama Sutra was a highly subtle and sophisticated text, focussing not just on the act of sex but on all elements of societal relations. Its seven chapters detail how a nagaraka (young urbane male) should conduct himself; in matters such as how to find a partner; how to marry and retain the power in that relationship; how to use courtesans; how to woo married women; and how to engage in homosexual relations. The level of detail is such that the nagaraka is instructed on how to arrange his city abode, how he should clean his teeth and how he should socialise with his sexual partners.
War sculptures, Khajuraho
Famously, 64 kama-kalas, ways to make love, are described. These are not just sexual positions, but include descriptions of methods of sexual stimulation such as techniques for kissing, caressing, touching, biting. According to James McConnachie’s ‘Book of Love’ which traces the history of the Kama Sutra, Vatsyayana considers sex and sexual pleasure to be art forms, which require time and great consideration in their perfection. Mastering these kama-kalas were essential, Vatsayana said, in order to be considered an educated man.
A lineage of sexual manuals preceded the Kama Sutra, in theory leading back to one written by Nandi, the servant of Shiva. It is believed these prior texts was in danger of becoming fragmented and lost, and the Kama Sutra was an exercise to collate and preserve this knowledge. Over the following centuries, erotic studies continued, branching into new areas, from predicting a woman’s suitability as a sexual partner to the methods of sex particular types of women prefer. India’s erotic traditions were also celebrated through theatre and poetry with the majority of surviving plays from the Kama Sutra era centring on erotic themes.
Chitragupta Temple, Khajuraho
Around 6th or 7th century CE, Tantra practices started developing in India through peasant movements, in what was believed to be a backlash against Brahminical Hinduism focused on caste purity and inherited power. These Tantra rituals centred on the polluting and the impure in order to break Hindu society’s polite and formal conventions. Only by foregoing all sense of ego and submitting to the socially unacceptable, could a practitioner connect with God. Male practitioners performed sexual rituals with female yoginis, not for prolonged sexual bliss, but in order to produce sexual fluids for consumption and digestion by the male. The oral digestion of semen and menstrual blood, normally considered dirty substances, along with bringing pleasure to the female participants, was thought to allow the male participants to access the supernatural powers of the supreme being.
Navratri worshippers, Khajuraho
Ruling classes started to adopt Tantra as they saw it as a way of acquiring the power of the gods. It has been suggested that the Chandra dynasty who built Khajuraho between 950 and 1050 CE, were Tantra followers and it is possible the famous sculptures on their exteriors depict Tantra rituals. Perhaps in response to the popularity of Tantra, around the 10th century CE kama again became fashionable in Indian princely courts and new wave of sexual texts was commissioned by rulers, continuing India’s long erotica tradition. Ananga Ranga is another famous example, written around the 15th or 16th century CE, which promoted increased satisfaction with sex as a path to happiness and harmony in a marriage.
The Moghuls, a Muslim dynasty that ruled most of India from the 16th to the 19th centuries CE, are often accused of bringing sexual conservativeness to India through the import of Islam. In fact, erotic literature and art emanating from India increased during Mughal rule. Several existing texts were translated into Persian for the courts and further studies commissioned.
Temple, Khajuarho
Miniature painting, the Persian style of painting brought to India during the Moghul years, shows the fusion between medieval Islam and Sanskrit erotica. Both Moghul emperors and Hindu Rajput rulers commissioned miniature paintings to capture sex scenes; the Rajputs’ miniatures often portraying the sexual story of a cavorting couple, Radha and Krishna being a favourite; while Moghul creations show the emperor enjoying his harem. It appears that, rather than repressing the sensual element of Indian society, medieval Islam allowed its culture to blend with that of the Hindu courts. What is likely, however, is that Hindu kingdoms, the patrons of Sanskrit literature, lost power and wealth during Moghul reign, triggering the decline of Sanskrit erotic literature.
Many argue it was the British rather than the Moghuls who killed off Indian eroticism. The Victorian British, in public at least, considered Indian sexual liberalism as barbaric and eyed the traditional courts as hot-beds of irregular sexual activity. Gradually, the British rulers exerted their control over the Indian social sphere. The 1860 Penal Code outlawed non-procreative sex and therefore homosexual intercourse, and courtesans, a respected practice in ancient India, were banned. Hijras, a term which includes both intersex and transgender people, who had previously enjoyed special privileges in both Hindu and Muslim kingdoms, experienced a dramatic deterioration in their societal standing under British rule, and many were reduced to abject poverty.
Sculptures, Vishvanath Temple, Khajuraho
Although recent studies have shown that in Victorian Britain, attitudes towards sex were less conservative than previously thought, British sexual morality was seen as a marker of difference between colonised Indians and the imperial ruling class. The British colonial regime, through its claim to Western cultural superiority, was gradually suffocating Indian erotica. However, illiberal attitudes towards sex also came from within the conflicted Hindu faith itself. During colonialism, an emerging Indian upper-class, mainly high-caste Brahmins, were often educated in Britain and started to re-examine Indian sexual traditions. Promotion of sexual conservatism could have been replication of the views of their oppressors, but it is also possible that they took the opportunity to promote their vision of society: cleanliness, caste purity, the avoidance of polluting substances, and promotion of moksha above kama. Imposed by the British as the administrative class, replacing traditional power structure, the influence of this group increased during British rule. Their attitudes and practices informed British laws in India, and filtered down the caste ladder to influence other groups. The British, it appears, gave the conservative side of Hinduism a strong pull in the tug-of-war between sensuality and asceticism.
Another interesting concept that arose in conversations with my young Indian friends, was the role of 20th century Indian reformers in influencing current attitudes towards sex. In the era leading up to independence, many activists adopted ascetic ideals, the most famous being Mohandas K. Gandhi. At the age of 38 the Mahatma took a vow of brahmacharya, which means following a spiritual path and, in practice for Hindus, involves being celibate and completely eliminating sexual desire. He regularly called on his followers, in order to be best placed to develop the nation, to avoid marriage, and if society forced this upon them, he advised on how best to refrain from sex. A cold bath, Gandhi recommended, was an adequate course of action for a man who allowed desire to enter his mind. His writings perpetuated the idea that a woman should bear some responsibility for a sexual attack if her appearance was too provocative, an attitude that persists in Indian society today; and women who used contraception he labelled as whores.
Despite the onslaught of Victorian British rule, Brahminical Hinduism and influential Gandhism, today’s India is showing signs of a sexual resurgence. In her book ‘India Today’, Ira Triveldi quotes these figures: 75% of 18 to 24 years are now engaging in pre-marital sex; online searches for pornography doubled between 2010 to 2012; and the contraceptive market grew by 30% in 2014. Rocketing internet access across India is allowing a record numbers of Indians access to previously forbidden knowledge. According to Triveldi, ‘the sexual revolution has begun’ and ‘nothing can stop it’.
Sculptures, Kandariya-Mahadev Temple, Khajuraho
Indians may be awakening to sexual liberties, but traditional, patriarchal attitudes are enduring. 49% of young men in Indian cities have had sex with sex workers, suggesting that conservative attitudes continue to discourage young women from exploring sex. Females still tend to be categorised as ‘good’ or ‘bad’, meaning surgical vaginal tightening procedures are increasingly being used as the sexually active worry about their chances of marriage. Conservative attitudes in educational institutions mean that sex education is being dangerously withheld from curious young Indians. In its 2006-07 survey of young people in 6 large states, the Population Council reported that only 15% of young Indians receive any form of sex education, and in a recent survey by the magazine India Today, almost half of young people interviewed did not know how to protect themselves from HIV/AIDS.
On my last morning in Khajuraho, Saroj and I sit outside a smaller temple, watching morning activity which has probably remained unchanged for centuries: teenaged` girls pump water from the village taps; silver aunties sweep the dust in neat waves; adolescent boys pedal unsteadily on bulky metal bicycles. Despite housing these erotic treasures, behind the mud-walls, a rural village such as Khajuarho is likely to experience extremely illiberal attitudes towards sex. And while it may appear a sexual revolution is taking place in the cities, Saroj explains to me ‘With sex, young urban Indians are caught in contradiction, between enjoying a natural act and the associated guilt arising from a forbidden one.’ She sums it up well.
Kandariya Manadev and Devi Jagadamba Temples, Khajuraho
A Khajuraho morning street