October 25th – Gwalior to Khajuraho

A wonderful day's drive through Uttar Pradesh and then into Madhya Pradesh and finishing in Khajuraho, famous for its Hindu temples that were built over a thousand years ago and are now a World Heritage Site.

We left Gwalior and drove 70 kms to Sonagiri, a hill holy to Jains that is covered with over 80 white temples. The Jains have been building temples on this hill for over three hundred years, with the latest only just completed. We walked through the temple site and it is an extraordinary place with temples everywhere.

We walked past about a dozen and then came across these strange white elephant sculptures at the entrance to the newest temple.

The newest temple.

Inside it there are 52 individual shrines and 5 larger ones. The building was domed in shape and our guide told us that the five shrines are for the religions of the Jains, Buddhists, Islamics, Hindus, Sikhs and the dome represents the Christian faith.

We left the temples and walked back to our car and were besieged by children and beggars. There were four very elderly women sitting on the ground by our car and we gave them a few rupees each.

It is very difficult to know what to do when you are asked for money. Most times we attempt to ignore the begging, but sometimes you feel you must do something to help, as in this situation.

We drove a further 40 kms to the abandoned city of Orchha. This is truly an amazing place to visit and is one of the highlights of the tour. The city was abandoned in the late 18th century when the inhabitants were defeated by the Moguls. The city was founded in 1531 as a Rajput capital and was a thriving capital for two and a half centuries. When you drive into the city you cannot believe that such magnificent buildings were abandoned by their inhabitants. The palace complex at Orchha.

Another huge building at Orchha.

The site stretches over a large area with the River Bewar running through it. As we drove over the bridge up to the palace we were approached by this man playing a musical instrument.


We left Orchha after about an hour and drove another 150 kms to Khajuraho, the site of 25 Hindu temples that were built over a thousand years ago.

The temples were discovered by the British in the middle of the 19th century. They are a marvel of Hindu architecture and construction. Each temple is intricately carved with thousands of sculptures, many of them erotic. One of the facades completely covered in exquisite sculptures.

One simply cannot comprehend how the ancients were capable of doing such fine work with the very basic tools they used. We spent a very enjoyable hour at the temples before heading back to our hotel on a bicycle rickshaw.