Vamana Temple

The Vamana Temple at Khajuraho, in the Chandela kingdom of central India, is dedicated to Vamana, the dwarf avatar of Vishnu who in legend took three strides across the world to humble the demon king Bali.

It was raised between about 1050 and 1075 under the Chandela dynasty, whose kings built the Khajuraho complex in the Nagara style during the tenth and eleventh centuries. The shrine stands in the eastern group of monuments, its outer walls carrying the carved divine figures characteristic of Chandela art.

Khajuraho's temples remained in active worship until the late twelfth century; after the Delhi Sultanate under Qutb-ud-din Aibak overran the Chandela kingdom in the thirteenth century the complex was largely abandoned, although the Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta could still visit the shrines around 1340.