Chausath Yogini Temple — Attraction in Khajuraho

The Chausath Yogini temple is a ruined Devi temple in the Khajuraho town of Madhya Pradesh, India. It is the oldest surviving temple at Khajuraho. Unlike the Chausath Yogini temples at other places, it has a rectangular plan. The construction of the Chausath Yogini temple can be dated to approximately 885 CE.1] It is the earliest extant temple at the Chandela capital Khajuraho.[2] The temple has been classified as a Monument of National Importance by the Archaeological Survey of India.[3]

Ruins of Yogini temples have also been found at other places in and around the territory formerly ruled by the Chandelas or their feudatories, including Badoh, Bhedaghat Dudahi, Lokhari, Hinglajgarh, Mitaoli, Naresar, and Rikhiyan. This suggests that the cult of the Yoginis was well-established in the Chandela territory. The Chausath Yogini temples are connected to the Kapalika and Kaula sects. The temple is located among the Western group of temples on a 5.4 m high platform.[5] It has a rectangular plan measuring 31.4 m x 18.3 m.[5 Fourteen other historic Chausath Yogini temples have been discovered throughout India: the Khajuraho temple is the only one with a rectangular plan, all others have a circular plan.[6]

The temple is made of large, coarse granite blocks, with an open courtyard at the centre. The courtyard was originally surrounded by 65 shrine cells: 10 on the front (north) wall, 11 on the back wall, and 22 on each side. Only 35 of these 65 cells now survive.[2] Each cell has a small doorway and a curvilinear tower.[5]

With the exception of a large cell, each cell is approximately 1 m high and 1 m deep. The large cell is located at the centre of the back wall, and faces the entrance at the north. It was probably a shrine of Durga. The other 64 ("Chausath") cells presumably housed the...

At a distance of 1 km from Kandariya Mahadev Temple and 1.5 km from Khajuraho Bus Stand, Chausath Yogini Temple is another ruined Hindu temple belonging to the Western Group of Temples in Khajuraho. The temple has been classified as a Monument of National Importance by the Archaeological Survey of India.

Chausath Yogini Temple is believed to be the oldest surviving temples in Khajuraho, the erstwhile town of Chandelas, dating back to 900 AD. The name of the temple is derived from the Hindi word 'Chausath', which means 64. Legends state that the temple once had 64 yoginis in its 64 cells, who attended goddess Kali. Further, it is also believed that goddess Kali sheltered herself in the 65th cell. Only 35 shrines are survived now out of original 65 shrines.

The Chausath-Yogini Temple is the earliest building at Khajuraho and is situated on a low granite outcrop to the south-west of the Siva Sagar tank. Made using coarse granite, it boasts of an open-air quadrangular design that adds to its uniqueness. Chausath Yogini Temple is constructed on a huge raised platform that is located in an open place surrounded by 64 small temples. The shrines are tiny plain cells, each entered by a small doorway and roofed by a curvilinear sikhara of an elementary form. The shrine in the back wall, facing the entrance, is the largest and perhaps constituted the main shrine.

The temple ruins have no sculpture. Three large statues of goddesses, found among the ruins, are now located at the Khajuraho museum. The goddesses have been identified as Brahmani, Maheshwari, and Hingalaja or Mahishamardini. These statues are among the oldest sculptures of Khajuraho.

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The Chausath-yogini temple, made of coarse granite, is the earliest building at Khajuraho and is situated on a low granite outcrop to the south-west of the Siva-sagar tank. The temple has an exceptional plan and design. Standing on a lofty (5.4m high) platform, it is an open-air quadrangular (31- 4m x 18.3m) structure of sixty-seven peripheral shrines, of which only thirty-five have now survived. The shrines are tiny plain cells, each entered by a small doorway and roofed by a curvilinear shikhara of an elementary form. The shrine in the back wall, facing the entrance, is the largest and perhaps constituted the main shrine. A few simple mouldings on the façade are all the decoration that the temple displays, but despite its uncouth appearance and rugged bareness, it possesses an elemental strength and reveals some basic traits of Khajuraho style, such as a lofty platform and a jangha (wall) divided into two registers. Of all the yogini temples in India, this is the most primitive in construction and unique in being quadrangular and not circular on plan. The three surviving images, representing Brahmani, Mahesvari and Hingalaja (Mahishamardini) are massive and squat in form and are among the oldest sculptures of Khajuraho. The latter two are inscribed as Mahesvari and Hingalaja. They have been moved to the Archaeological Museum nearby. The evidence of the sculptural and architectural style, coupled with the early palaeography of the short labels on the images, indicates that the temple is probably datable to the last quarter of the ninth century....