Chausath Yogini Temple, Khajuraho: History, Timings & Visitor Guide

Chausath Yogini Temple, Khajuraho is open every day, usually from early morning to late evening with a break in the afternoon. Darshan and aarti timings change with the season and on festival days.

• MorningOpens early morning (around 5 to 6 AM)
• AfternoonShort break around midday at many temples
• EveningEvening aarti around sunset, closes by about 8 to 9 PM

Ask the temple office on arrival for the day's aarti schedule.

Dress Code & Temple Rules

• DressModest, traditional clothes covering shoulders and knees
• FootwearRemove before entering; use the shoe stand
• PhotographyNot allowed inside the sanctum
• Not AllowedLeather items, tobacco, alcohol, non-veg food
• QueueFollow queue lines and staff instructions on festival days

The construction of the Khajuraho Yogini temple can be dated to approximately 885 CE. It is the earliest extant temple at the Chandela capital, Khajuraho. The temple has been classified as a Monument of National Importance by the Archaeological Survey of India.

Ruins of Yogini temples have been found at other places in and around the territory formerly ruled by the Chandelas or their feudatories, including Badoh, Bhedaghat Dudahi, Lokhari, Hinglajgarh, Mitaoli, Nareshwar, and Rikhiyan. This suggests that the cult of the Yoginis was well-established in the Chandela territory. The Chausath Yogini temples are connected to the Kapalika and Kaula sects.

Architecture of Chausath Yogini Temple, Khajuraho

The temple is among the Western group of temples on a 5.4 m high platform. It has a rectangular plan measuring 31.4 m x 18.3 m. It is one of the historic Yogini temples across India; many of the others have a circular plan, though those at Rikhiyan and Badoh are also rectangular, so there was at least a local tradition of building them in this shape. Like all Yogini temples, the Khajuraho temple is hypaethral, open to the air.

The temple is made of large, coarse granite blocks, with an open courtyard at the centre. The courtyard was originally surrounded by 65 shrine cells: 10 on the front (north) wall, 11 on the back wall, and 22 on each side. Only 35 of these 65 cells now survive; each has a small doorway made of two squared granite pillars and a lintel stone, and a curvilinear tower roof. Above the lintel of the best-surviving cells is a triangular pediment. There is no surviving trace of a central shrine, whether to Shiva or the Goddess, as found in other Yogini temples.