Chausath Yogini Temple, Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh

The Secret Cult of Yoginis “The circular enclosure with no roof to the sky is a very peculiar shape for an Indian temple but at Yogini temples, you will find this and an even more interesting set of deities worshipped. Statues of female Yoginis or tantric goddesses with beautifully sculpted bodies and non-human heads! The temples of the Chausath (64) Yoginis are strewn across the heart of India, in Madhya Pradesh and Odisha. The most famous among them is the one at Hirapur, just outside Bhubhaneshwar in Odisha. Little is known about the yogini temples thanks to the fear they still evoke among the locals. The Tantric sects of Hinduism that evolved outside the main orthodox Brahmanical system are perhaps the least known or understood. A lot of this is because they were always kept out of the mainstream and shrouded in mystery for the uninitiated and hence taboo. Infact, the fear of Yoginis goes back all the way to ancient times. The Brahmanda Purana, one of the main texts of tantrism states that anyone who reveals the secrets of the Purana will be cursed by the Yoginis. Another, the Jnanavarna Tantra, goes beyond, adding that whoever tells the secrets of tantra to the uninitiated, will become food for the Yoginis! So who are the Yoginis? They are a group of forest spirits or mother goddesses of the forest who were later incorporated into the Hindu pantheon. This incorporation of these goddesses - from Tribal to Tantric happened in 8th century CE. It is not surprising that most of these Yogini temples are in the heart of the old Gondwana forests of central India, where tribals live. The cult of Yoginis was very powerful between 9th to 12th centuries, but it was virtually wiped out by the 17th century. However, some aspects of Yogini worship survived across India. In fact, there is a reference to a Yogini ‘Vrata’ or a Puja undertaken by ladies in the Walkeshwar area of Mumbai as late as the 1900s!” (Yogini Cult and Temples by Vidya Dahejia) In the advent of 9th century AD, the tantra tradition evolved into an esoteric form and had the women practitioners who were called the yoginis. The yogini cult was an assimilation of a cross-section of faiths like Shaivism, Vashnaivsm, Buddhism, and Tantrism. Temples to the Yoginis in India were built between the ninth and sixteenth centuries and their worship seems to have flourished amongst the royalty during that time. All of the known Yogini temples are circular, except for two, which are rectangular. One common characteristic between all Yogini temples is that they are hypaethral or without a roof. In all the Yogini temples, temple niches line the inner temple walls and are inhabited by Yoginis in various postures and bhavas (moods or expressions of the divinity). They all bear witness to the central altar, which sometimes is inhabited by a fierce form of Shiva. The Chausath Yogini temple is a ruined Yogini temple in the Khajuraho town of Madhya Pradesh. Dated to the late 9th century, it is the oldest surviving temple at Khajuraho. Unlike the Yogini temples at other places, it has a rectangular plan, but like them it is hypaethral, without roof. 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; each has a small doorway made of two squared granite pillars and a lintel stone, and a curvilinear tower roof. Above the lintel of the best-surviving cells is a triangular pediment. Apart from a single much larger cell for the deity, each of the 64 cells for yoginis 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 Goddess Durga. The other 64 ("Chausath") cells housed the statues of Yoginis. Three large statues of Mother Goddesses or Matrikas, found among the ruins, are now in the Khajuraho museum. Of all the Yogini temples in India, Yogini temple of Khajuraho is the most primitive in construction and unique in being rectangular. Situated away from but still classified as part of the western group of temples at Khajuraho. Chausath Yogini temple is a unique open-air sanctuary, considered to be one of the earliest shrines in Khajuraho, dating to around 885 AD. At Khajuraho the sanctuary of Chausath Yogini temple is situated away from the main group of temples of Visnu, Shiva and Surya. Dedicated to the Chausath (sixty four) Yoginis, essentially manifestations of the Great Goddess Durga, unlike most other temples at Khajuraho that are made from Sandstone, this temple is constructed from coarse granite. The difference is the only shrine at Khajuraho that is not aligned east-west, but is instead oriented north-east. The Sanctuary stands on a lofty platform 5.4m high. It consists of sixty seven cells, of which only thirty five now survive, all of equal size except for one single larger cell. Each tiny cell is entered by a small doorway and roofed by a basic curvilinear Shikhara. The single larger cell housed an image of Durga Mahishasuramardini inscribed with the label ‘Hinghalaja’, a Goddess that is revered in many parts of northern and western India. When Major Alexander Cunningham visited the sanctuary in 1865 AD, only three images remained in their cells; the Goddess Hinghalaja, with Brahmani and Maheshwari in cells either side. All these images are now safely in the site museum, along with an image of a dancing Ganesha that used to face the Chausath Yogini sanctuary.