Ancient monuments, magnificent water falls and jungle safari in national park with scenic natural beauty attract many tourists to Khajuraho. Khajuraho group of monuments which is the central attraction is a UNESCO world heritage site and is famous for ancient temples with elegant and intrinsic stone carving. Located at the central India in Madhya Pradesh state, Khajuraho has become a major tourist destination by both domestic and foreign nationals. The content of this travel blog is from my two trips to Khajuraho from Kanpur. One was during Feb 2016 and second trip was during a workshop organized in Dec 2016. Most of the temples and water falls are covered in my first trip. In my second trip, I covered the Panna National Park nearer to it.
Journey to Khajuraho:
My first journey to Khajuraho from IIT Kanpur was by train. I traveled by the Khajuraho passenger train which left Kanpur central railway station at 4:20 pm. The traveling through the passenger train was interesting though not comfortable due to huge crowd and time consuming journey. After approximately 7 hours of journey, the train arrived at its last stoppage, Khajuraho at 11 pm. I got off from the train and hired an auto rickshaw and traveled to the hotel that have been booked earlier through online. In the second journey, I traveled by a cab with my friends. That journey was to attend an Indo-French workshop organized at a hotel at Khajuraho. There are many good trains running between New Delhi and Khajuraho. Anybody traveling from Delhi can take a train which is the best option from New Delhi if time is not a constraint. AC coaches are most comfortable one. It is wise to travel by reserving a seat in advance. Also Khajuraho has its own air port where regular flights are flying from New Delhi. This may be the most comfortable journey for international travelers. Western Group of Manuments: This is the most Important focus of Khajuraho. It comprises a cluster of temples located nearer to each other. All the temples are surrounded by a boundary by ASI. The temples are preserved and maintained by Archeological Survey of India. The entry fee for the western group of temples is 40 INR for Indians and 250 INR for foreigners. The price may vary with time. Lakhsmana temple, Chitragupta temple, Devi Jagadambi temple, Baraha temple are the most prominent temple in the western group of monuments. Lakshmana Temple:
First, I visited the Lakhsmana temple which is dedicated to lord Vishnu and it was built in 930 - 950 AD.. The temple is very beautiful and carved with elegant statues surrounding the outer wall of the temple. There is no worship at present in the temple. Kandariya Mahadev Temple:
It lies just behind the Lakshmana temple. It is the largest and most ornate temple in the western group of monuments. Kandariya Mahadev temple was built during the reign of Vidyadhara in 1035 AD. The temple is dedicated to lord Shiva. The temple has a height of 31 meter build on a massive plinth of 4 meter height. Devi Jagadamba Temple:
The temple lies to the right of the Kandariya Mahadev Temple. Devi Jagadambika Temple was built during Chandela dynasty and the the temple is dedicated to Goddess Parvati. Chitragupta Temple:
The temple is dedicated to Sun god and lies right to Devi Jagadamba Temple. Chitragupta temple was constructed in 1020-1025 AD and architecturally similar to Devi Jagadamba temple. Eastern Group of Monuments:
Eastern group of temple is located at a distance of 1.5 km from the western group of monuments. We arrived at eastern group of temples at 1 pm after visiting western group of temples. The entry fee for the eastern group of temple is only 5 INR. The temples are managed by Jain community. The maintenance and preservation of the temples is carried by Archeological survey of India. The eastern cluster of temples are Jain temples build during Chandela rule between 950 to 975 AD. Parshvanatha and Adinatha are the most prominent temples. Parshvanatha temple is the oldest temple in eastern group of temples. The temple is dedicated to the 23rd Tirthankara Parshvanatha of the Jain religion. The exterior of the temple is decorated with statues of Hindu deities. Adinatha Temple is dedicated to Thirthankara Adinatha and lies nearer to Parshvanatha temple. Lord Adinatha statue is enshrined in the main sanctum of the temple and the statue is made of black stone. The temple was constructed in 1075 AD. The interior and exterior wall feature Hindu deities.
Raneh falls:
After visiting the Eastern group of Monuments, we hired an auto rickshaw and went to the Raneh falls which is at a distance of 20 km from the temples. Raneh falls lies inside a Ghariyal sanctuary. There is a check post at the entry point of the Ken Ghariyal Sanctuary where we paid 400 INR for ticket. The ticket price depends on the vehicle and number of person. The ticket also includes one guide who accompanies with the group. The guide is mandatory to travel with the visitor inside the sanctuary and Raneh falls. We arrived at Raneh falls at 3:30 pm. The auto rickshaw was parked in the parking area. There is one food stall and souvenir shop near the parking area. The Raneh falls is at a walking distance from the parking area. The falls was beautiful and the view is awesome. Raneh falls formed on the Ken river. After the falls, the Ken river passes through a 5 km long deep canyon made of crystalline granite in varying shades of colours ranging from pink and red to grey. The canyon is formed by volcanic eruption which occurred long time ago.
Panna National Park:
I visited Panna National Park in my second trip to Khajuraho to attend a workshop. Panna national park is at a distance of 40 km from Khajuraho. I and my friends went to Panna national park by a cab from the conference venue in the after noon after lunch. It took approximately 1 hour to reach there. From the ticket counter, we hired a Jungle safari jeep at a cost of 3600 INR. We entered the national park with one forest guard in the jeep. It is also a tiger reserve. Moving through a tiger reserve in a open jeep is adventurous and thrilling experience. The jeep moved through a very narrow road through the dense forest. After few kilometer of distance, we saw few spotted deer and Sambar deer. Then the vehicle passes through the bank of Ken river. Lots of crocodiles were laying at the river bank. It was around 3 pm and the view of Ken river from the Jeep was awesome. The rough terrain and undulating road made an exciting journey.
After a long distance, we came to a point in the dense forest where there was a tiger. Lots of other jungle safari jeeps were standing and watching the tiger. We also joined the crowd to have a sight of the tiger while hunting a deer. Spotting a tiger in a natural habitat is a very rarest view. The deer hunting was unsuccessful. The tiger moved away from that spot and slowly the crowd dispersed from the place. We then moved to the resting point at the half way of the journey. We were told not to step out of the jeep inside the national park. Only at this resting point, it is allowed to come out from the jeep and have a relaxed a while in the open atmosphere. There is a small forest building for the forest staffs. After spending 15 minutes there, we then moved further into the wood. It was slowly becoming dark. We spotted few jungle boars and other animals on the way. After traveling 30 km inside the forest, we returned to the ticket counter. It was already 6 pm when we left the national park.
My traveling experience at Khajuraho was memorable and interesting. It is good to visit Khajuraho during winter when the climate if pleasant. The water at Raneh fall may be less due to lack of water in Ken river. In rainy season, the water flows heavily in the falls which has a different feeling.
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12 Sept 2015
About me
Tapan Kumar Pradhan Post Doc Researcher, IIT Kharagpur PhD, IIT Kanpur http://tapankp.weebly.com Distance:
Delhi - Khajuraho = 650 km. Kanpur - Khajuraho = 220 km. Participants of Indo-French Workshop.
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