Duladeo Temple

Duladeo Temple or Dulhadeo Mandir is a Shiva-Temple at Khajuraho considered to be the last temple built by Chandela Dynasty. It is located at the bank of Khodar River in the Southern group of the Khajuraho Group of Temples, nearly 5 km away from Khajuraho village. Duladeo Temple is one of the twenty two Shiva temples which are among eighty seven temples that were built during the Chandela Reign in Central India. The temple is recognized as a layout without the ambulatory path, consisting of a sanctum without an ambulatory, a vestibule, main hall, and an entrance porch. The temple pinnacle is created in three rows of minor shikhars. Its features are in general conformity with those adopted for the other temples in the Khajuraho complex. The basic structure of the temple consists of a raised base over which the richly decorated structure rises and is covered with rich sculptures. The architectural style is Nagara, representing Mount Kailash, the abode of Lord Shiva. The main hall is very large, octagonal in shape having beautifully carved ceiling and elegantly carved walls. There are twenty two brackets carved with the apsaras with two or three apsaras next to one another in each bracket. The damsels dancing around trees and women in erotic poses are also part of the temples architecture. Being the last temple built in the reign of Chandela, the architectural design in the temple is called “last glow of Khajuraho’s architectural and sculptural mastery”. The top row in the façade has sculptures of supernatural beings in a vibrant mode; in the porch entrance the sculptures of river goddesses under umbrellas. A figure of Lord Shiva is carved on the lintel at the entrance to the sanctum. The central icon of the Lingam in the sanctum is not the original but a duplicate as the original is untraced. A unique feature of the depictions on the Lingam is that it has 999 more lingams carved all around its surface. Its religious significance is that going around the Lingam would amount to taking of circumambulation a 1000 times around it.