Qualla: Bhoramdeo Temple

Bhoramdeo Temple: Introduction

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Ms Sarah Welch, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Gond tribal people of central India had their own name for Lord Shiva. They called him Bhoramdeo, and at the foot of the thickly forested Maikal range in what is now Chhattisgarh, they built a temple to honor him. That temple gave its name to the village, and eventually to an entire complex of four sacred structures spanning centuries of construction -- from early brick shrines to an 11th-century stone masterwork whose exterior walls are so dense with erotic carvings that visitors have called it the "Khajuraho of Chhattisgarh." Unlike its more famous counterpart in Madhya Pradesh, Bhoramdeo sits in relative obscurity, 134 kilometers from the nearest airport in Raipur, reached by roads that wind through Kabirdham district. The isolation has preserved both the temple and the silence around it.

Read more: Bhoramdeo Temple on Qualla

Image: Ms Sarah Welch | CC BY-SA 4.0

Bhoramdeo Temple: Layers of Stone and Brick

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Roshan Jha, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Bhoramdeo complex comprises four temples, the earliest built of brick during the rule of the Pandu dynasty. These brick temples share characteristics with others built in the same era at Kharod, Palari, Rajim, and Sirpur across the state, suggesting a regional building tradit...

Read more: Bhoramdeo Temple on Qualla

Image: Roshan Jha | CC BY-SA 3.0

Bhoramdeo Temple: Carved Desire on Sacred Walls

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Uditvd, CC BY-SA 3.0. It is the exterior carvings that earned Bhoramdeo its famous comparison to Khajuraho. The walls are covered with a profusion of sculpted images, many explicitly erotic, rendered by local artists with a directness that can startle modern visitors. The erotic sculptures appear prim...

Read more: Bhoramdeo Temple on Qualla

Image: Uditvd | CC BY-SA 3.0

Bhoramdeo Temple: The Inner Sanctum

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Pankaj Oudhia, CC BY-SA 3.0. Past the elaborately embellished entrance, the temple's interior follows the traditional layout of a Hindu Shiva temple. The entrance hall, or mandapa, once supported a shikara that has since deteriorated and been crudely remodeled. Inside, an image of Nandi -- Shiva's bull mount...

Read more: Bhoramdeo Temple on Qualla

Image: Pankaj Oudhia | CC BY-SA 3.0

Bhoramdeo Temple: Forest, Hills, and Remoteness

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Pankaj Oudhia, CC BY-SA 3.0. Bhoramdeo's setting is inseparable from its character. The Maikal range rises behind the complex, its slopes thick with the forests of the Bhoramdev Wildlife Sanctuary. Kawardha, the nearest tehsil town, connects by road to Raipur at 116 kilometers, Rajnandgaon at 133, and Jabalp...

Read more: Bhoramdeo Temple on Qualla

Image: Pankaj Oudhia | CC BY-SA 3.0