Sex education,

someone sang many years ago, 'is and remains a delicate issue'. In Khajuraho, people found a way to deal with this many centuries ago. They just hired an enormous crew of sculptors and temple builders and let them build 85 temples, complete with very advanced pieces of sculpture. There are around twenty of these left and they are world famous. These modern pieces of sculpture do not only represent daily life, as in hunting and housekeeping, but also all possible sorts of leisure activities. At the time of their making, of course, people didn't have a TV, video or cinema, so what could they do? Exactly - entertain their partners (in those days there were not yet 1 milliard Indians, so there was enough space for them!). This leisure activity has also been portrayed in detail on the temple walls. Now you can guess why these temples are so famous. The extra dimension a bit of education can give you!

Seriously, it is really a fine piece of sculpture, especially when you consider the tools people at that time had to make do with. And then there is the question: how did they get that enormous 'crown', the round keystone, on top of each temple?

There are a number of explanations why these temples have been founded. One of them is that a god ordered human passion in all its aspects to be captured in art. A second explanation is that the then emperors were in favour of tantrism, a current according to which the union between a man and a wife is a way towards liberation of the soul (in which case I have a long way to go!). A third explanation is that boys who are about to marry should be prepared for their new responsibility as heads of their families. I wonder if girls shouldn't be prepared, either? I also wonder if all works of art are equally appropriate; as there are some which one cannot possibly master as a beginner. But perhaps Indians are much more supple than I am?