Khajuraho playing cards, India
Sacred erotic sculpture from the temple walls captured in a modern souvenir deck.
The Khajuraho Group of Monuments are a group of Hindu and Jain temples in Chhatarpur district, Madhya Pradesh, India, built by the Chandela dynasty. Historical records note that the Khajuraho temple site had 85 temples by the 12th century, but of these, only about 25 temples have survived. The largest and currently most famous surviving temple is Kandariya Mahadeva, built c. 1003-1035.
The temples have a rich display of intricately carved statues. The carvings cover numerous aspects of human life and values considered important in the Hindu life and culture but they are perhaps better known for their erotic sculptures – despite the fact that sexual themes cover less than 10% of the Kandariya Mahad sculpture.
Above: Khajuraho playing cards, India. 52 cards + 2 jokers in box. No publisher or manufacturer is credited but probably Indica Cards by Mittal.
This pack displays 52 different carvings (or parts of carvings), all of which are of the “Kamasutra type”. There are two jokers, but unfortunately there is no indication of publisher or date, nor any accompanying guide or description of the temple complex.
See the box
By Peter Burnett
United Kingdom • Member since July 27, 2022
I graduated in Russian and East European Studies from Birmingham University in 1969. It was as an undergraduate in Moscow in 1968 that I stumbled upon my first 3 packs of “unusual” playing cards which fired my curiosity and thence my life-long interest. I began researching and collecting cards in the early 1970s, since when I’ve acquired over 3,330 packs of non-standard cards, mainly from North America, UK and Western Europe, and of course from Russia and the former communist countries.
Following my retirement from the Bodleian Library in Dec. 2007 I took up a new role as Head of Library Development at the International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP) to support library development in low-income countries. This work necessitated regular training visits to many sub-Saharan African countries and also further afield, to Vietnam, Nepal and Bangladesh – all of which provided rich opportunities to further expand my playing card collection.
Since 2019 I’ve been working part-time in the Bodleian Library where I’ve been cataloguing the bequest of the late Donald Welsh, founder of the English Playing Card Society.
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