KHAJURAHU, an ancient and now decayed town in Ch'hatarpur State, Bundelkhand, Provinces, famous for its magnificent architectural remains. Population about 900. It is situated at.the south-east corner of the Khajur Sagar or Ninora Tal lake. It was the ancient capital of the Chandel dynasty, is about 125 miles W.S.W. of Allahabad, and 150 miles S.E. from Gwalior. It has in and around it about thirty temples, the most beautiful in form as well as the most elegant in detail of any of the temples now standing in India. They were erected simultaneously in the 11th century, and are nearly equally divided among three religions,—Jaina, Saiva, and Vaish nava. . Each group has one shrine greater than the rest, round which the smaller ones are clustered. In the Saiva groups it is the Kandarya Mahadeva ; in the Vaislinava it is the Rama Chandra ; and in the Jaina group it is the Jinanatha. The Pars wanatha Jaina temple has a rich base, the Gantl]ai is the Bell temple, and the Chaonsat Jogini has sixty-four cells. Numerous inscriptions of the Chandel kings have been discovered at various places in the neighbourhood.• Upwards of twenty temples still stand in the town, and the ruins of at least as many more bear witness to its former greatness. On one side General Cunningham counted over eight hundred statues of half life size, and eight sculptured elephants of like pro portions. The inner shrine of this edifice con stituted in itself a splendid temple, and was crowded with figures. Captain Burt noticed seven large temples of exquisite carving, whose mechanical construction adapted them to last for almost indefinite periods. Most or all of these
noble buildings must be referred to the great Chandel dynasty, who ruled at Khajurahu, appar ently from A.D. 841 to A.D. 1157. The modern village contains only about 160 houses. The first part of one inscription is of date Samvat 1010, A.D. 962 ; the last part, Samvat 1173 or 1060. The character used in the inscription is called the Kakuda, and in the 11th and 12th centuries appears to have prevailed from Cuttack to Sheka wati. It contains an invocation to Siva and other of the Hindu deities. The inscription is chiefly in honour of Banga (by his son). The kings of Oudh and Ceylon attend to do him homage, and his captives are the wives of the kings of Andhra, Radha, and Anga ! (Banga, of course), eulogized by the Brahmans, because he built dwellings for them, and gave them lands, and piously ended his days, aged 109, by drowning himself at the junction of the Jumna and Ganges, as did also the Brahman minister of his father and grand father. The inscription had twice before been engraved in irregular characters, and it was only in A.D. 1016 that it was put into proper Dora Nagari. The story of creation from Brahma and the egg is told. The influence of the moon on the tides is alluded to. The inscription alludes to a passage in the Mahabharata, in which Siva is represented to have given his own flesh to a hawk, instead of a bird which had sought refuge with him. This story is told of Buddha more than 1500 years before this time. Gaz. ; As. Soc. viii. p. 176.