Khajuraho - Was it the last blossoming of Hindu architecture and temple iconography? Or was it an epitome of tantric cult worship?

Or was it the product of an age of joyous abandon and permissiveness, or a display of uninhibited sexual behaviour in both literature and arts, as is evident from the temples of Khajuraho?

The debate goes on...but...more importantly, a new debate is also taking place today - will these structures last long? Can these exquisite temples bear the ravages of rampant development? This is the paramount concern in the minds of conservationists and people concerned about Khajuraho.

The famous Khajuraho temples were built in the period 950 to 1000 AD and it was rediscovered in 1838, when T.S. Burt, an East India Company military officer, chanced upon these beautiful temples and wrote about it in the Asiatic Journal in 1839.

In the year 1986, UNESCO recognised Khajuraho as a World Heritage Site for its "human creativity", and it became one of the 22 world heritage sites.

Khajuraho is famous the world over for its temples and that is what draws many people to this mystic and beautiful complex. However, Khajuraho has over the years sadly been relegated to the sex-tourism industry and a one-day stopover on the tourist circuit.

But what is disheartening is the degenerating condition of these monuments of national pride. The forces of nature, unplanned growth, rampant pace of development and the resulting pollution, and years of exploitation for petty gains like more tourists and more money, have taken their toll on these monuments. Besides the monuments, the environs nearby also show evidence of degeneration. Khajuraho site once boasted of beautiful lakes, which are now on the verge of extinction. Simultaneously, the scarcity of water in Khajuraho town is gradually being felt by local people and tourists alike.

History talks about dense forests in the temple complex, which have now vanished into the blue.

The temples may suffer due to the presence of the airport in close proximity. There is heavy traffic next to the temple. Right at the doorstep, one can see a ghetto of shopping complexes, parking lots, garbage dumps and all other signs of unplanned urbanization. Thus, the processes of weathering, vandalism, pollution due to rapid urbanisation and unregulated development of tourism have left their scars on Khajuraho.

The social fabric and the local economy have also undergone forced unnatural changes. All though the economy of Khajuraho has grown significantly over the years, the local communities are more alienated than before. All this will have fatal implications on the long-term sustainability of tourism and urbanisation in Khajuraho.

As with many other heritage sites in India, Khajuraho presents a fundamental dilemma. On the one hand there exists the splendour of the temples and on the other, unregulated urbanisation threatening itself and the temples.

An analysis of all conservation efforts taken up in India has proved that piecemeal, isolated restoration work does not deliver results and must be replaced by holistic preservation programmes, borne out of interaction with historians, city-planners, local people, environmentalists and conservationists.

To arrest the above mentioned degeneration of the environs in Khajuraho, in December 1997, the Indian National Trust for Art, Culture and Heritage (INTACH) in collaboration with Development Alternatives submitted a proposal to the Government of Madhya Pradesh. The proposal was to prepare a Conservation and Sustainable Development Strategy for the Khajuraho Heritage Region. This was approved by the Government of Madhya Pradesh with an initial grant. An equivalent amount was provided by Lady Helen Hamlyn, United Kingdom and supplementary contributions have been made by the INTACH-UK Trust and Development Alternatives. The project was initiated in January 1998 and completed within a period of one year.

This report was presented to the Hon. President of India, Shri K.R. Narayanan, on 7 March,1999 at Khajuraho during the millennium celebrations. The President praised the work of the Khajuraho Planning Team and remarked that this report was one of the best examples of micro-level planning he had seen and that every district in India should benefit from this methodology, whether it had temples or not.

The Khajuraho Planning Team consisted of professionals with expertise in environmental and landscape planning, heritage conservation, infrastructure development and tourism planning, within an overall perspective of sustainable development. This team was supported by advisors and a Technical Review Committee was set up by INTACH.

The Khajuraho Planning Team adopted a consultative approach with a series of focus group discussions and participatory rural appraisal meetings to formulate a comprehensive strategy. Various resource persons, with expertise in constituent issues from within and outside Khajuraho were also consulted.

This strategy attempted to rejuvenate the conceptual and physical environment of Khajuraho, with its numerous temples and tanks set amidst verdant villages, without losing sight of the realities of the present and future: the needs and aspirations of the people, the growing demands of tourism and the resultant impact on the region.

The area around the World Heritage Site was surveyed to map all relevant physical characteristics and a detailed inventory of all the heritage components was prepared. Satellite imagery interpretation coupled with ground-truth verification and rigorous consultations enabled a detailed assessment of the natural resource condition in the whole region.

The Report

The Conservation and Sustainable Development Strategy document for the Khajuraho Heritage Region consists of the following aspects:

It provides a background to the project and explores the broader historical cultural region of Khajuraho which extends over a large portion of Central India. Delineation for this study consisted of :

• The Khajuraho Heritage Region comprising approximately 38,000 hectares spanning 42 villages with approximately 65,000 people.

• Within this region, the inter-dependence between the activities resulted in the definition of the Khajuraho Heritage Zone which includes 14,000 hectares spanning 12 villages with approximately 30,000 people where all the prime heritage components identified are located.

• The immediate environs around the World Heritage Site were also delineated for detailed action proposals.

It also presents a detailed analysis of the current situation in the Khajuraho Heritage Region keeping the following parameters in view: 

Action Programme

The next section of the report presents the action programme consisting of three integrated components with their action proposals:

• Integrated Heritage Management
• Sustainable Tourism Development
• Integrated Community Development

The Integrated Heritage Management Programme proposes the establishment of development control and regulatory mechanisms to significantly improve the immediate environs around the World Heritage Site. As a means of restoring respect and status to the heritage, specific recommendations have been made to conserve the unique landscape character and view the corridors of Khajuraho. Landscape improvement projects for the Western Group of Temples and other monuments are outlined. Specific proposals are also drawn up for tree planting, improvements in circulation patterns, new parking areas, shops and amenities in all important locations. Suggestions are also provided for revitalising and managing various heritage components, including archeological mounds, eighteenth century gardens, temples, traditional settlements, vernacular architecture, water bodies and other natural landscape features. The protection and interpretation measures are to be implemented with the participation of the local communities. The proposal for a Khajuraho Heritage Resource Centre has also been provided.

The Sustainable Tourism Development component of the action programme provides specific suggestions for improvement of air, rail and road transport systems such that it becomes more convenient to visitors and also benefits the local communities. Proposals for upgradation of tourism facilities including signages, tourist information centres, rest houses, refreshment stalls, toilet facilities and drinking water facilities are also provided. For enriching the experience of the visitor to Khajuraho and enhancing benefits to the local communities by increasing the number of stay-days, a variety of tourist circuits in and around Khajuraho Region are outlined. These include heritage walks in the Khajuraho area, heritage trails in the heritage zone and broader regional circuits.

The Integrated Community Development component provides detailed proposals on land and water management. These include regeneration of wastelands, introduction of agro-forestry practices, nurseries for forest and fruit trees, desilting of ponds and tanks, seepage control measures and soil and water conservation systems. A range of livelihood options, including leaf cup production, ber churan production, pisciculture, papad and badi production, biomass energy briquette production and vegetable farming are also profiled. Local crafts like basket-making, carpentry and pottery that can be revived are also outlined. Measures to improve the availability and access to community and infrastructure facilities are then proposed. These include improvement of village roads, upgradation of health infrastructure, community health care systems, upgradation of educational infrastructure, augmentation of drinking water systems, solid waste management and improvement of sanitation facilities. The hierarchy of settlements visualised is also provided.

The concluding section describes the implementation mechanism that is needed to be set in place to ensure that the proposals outlined in the action programme are effectively executed. The action programme is visualised in three phases of six years, including the millennium launch (one year), the growth phase (two years) and the sustenance phase (three years). The strategy also suggests the setting up of a professionally managed Khajuraho Heritage Trust Fund to finance the action programme in a transparent, accountable and sustained manner over a long term.

Based on the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments, the strategy recommends the setting up of the Khajuraho Virasat Samiti as a coordinating institution to ensure that inputs of all the agencies operating in the Khajuraho Region are efficiently dovetailed. Finally, the life cycle of a typical project is described to understand the steps involved to ensure that a project is implemented with the full involvement and ownership of the local agencies and communities.

About Khajuraho, a lot of unanswered questions still exist - Did it exist in an unpopulated vacuum? Were there houses, palaces, schools, and other secular buildings at the sight ? Why were they abandoned, how did the society function, was it a highly epicurean and indulgent society or simply were followers of a pious school of tantric cults?

But, the answer to the question- Which path should Khajuraho follow to retain its place in the annals of history- can be found in the report. q

Aparajita Gogoi