Which is the largest and most developed temple of the Khajuraho group?
- A.Lakshmana temple
- B.Kandariya Mahadeva temple
- C.Chaunsath Yogini temple
- D.Parsvanatha temple
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B, the Kandariya Mahadeva temple. Built in the reign of Vidyadhara, it is the tallest and most fully worked out of the Khajuraho temples, with the complete sequence of ardhamandapa, mandapa, antarala and garbhagriha, a cluster of subsidiary shikharas rising towards the main one, and bands of sculpture over its walls.
Option A is wrong because the Lakshmana temple, built by Yashovarman for Vaikuntha Vishnu, is older and smaller though complete with its four subsidiary shrines. Option C is wrong because the Chaunsath Yogini temple, of granite, is the oldest of the group but plain and small. Option D is wrong because the Parsvanatha temple belongs to the Jain temples of the eastern group and is smaller than Kandariya Mahadeva. Questions often ask for the largest, the oldest or the Jain temples of the group, so keep Kandariya Mahadeva, Chaunsath Yogini and Parsvanatha apart in mind.
Read the full article: Khajuraho, Sanchi and Bhimbetka: Monuments of MP
Practice Questions
View allThe temples of Khajuraho were built by which dynasty?
- A.Chandela
- B.Paramara
- C.Bundela
- D.Tomar
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The Chandelas of Jejakabhukti built the Khajuraho group in Chhatarpur district between about 950 and 1050 CE, and the names of their rulers are tied to individual temples: Yashovarman to the Lakshmana temple and Vidyadhara to the Kandariya Mahadeva.
Read the full explanation →The Great Stupa at Sanchi was originally built by which ruler?
- A.Ashoka
- B.Kanishka
- C.Harshavardhana
- D.Pulakeshin II
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The core of Stupa 1 at Sanchi, in Raisen district, was raised in the third century BCE in Ashoka's reign, with the Ashokan pillar carrying the schism edict beside it.
Read the full explanation →The rock shelters of Bhimbetka were discovered in 1957 by whom?
- A.V. S. Wakankar
- B.H. D. Sankalia
- C.Daya Ram Sahni
- D.Robert Bruce Foote
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The archaeologist Vishnu Shridhar Wakankar noticed the shelters in the Vindhyan foothills of Raisen district in 1957 and began the study of their paintings, made in red and white ochre and showing hunters, dancers, animals and later riders with weapons.
Read the full explanation →The Khajuraho temples belong to which style of temple architecture?
- A.Dravida
- B.Nagara
- C.Vesara
- D.Hoysala
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The Khajuraho temples are classic north Indian Nagara temples: they stand on a high platform without a boundary wall or gateway, they have a curving shikhara over the sanctum with smaller shikharas clustered around it, and their halls run in a line from the entrance to the garbhagriha.
Read the full explanation →At Sanchi, the relics of the Buddha's disciples Sariputta and Mahamoggallana were found in which structure?
- A.Stupa 1, the Great Stupa
- B.Stupa 2
- C.Stupa 3
- D.The Ashokan pillar
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The relic caskets of Sariputta and Mahamoggallana, the two chief disciples of the Buddha, were recovered from Stupa 3 at Sanchi, which stands north-east of the Great Stupa and has a single torana.
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