ident in the Lakshmana temple. This temple enshrines the mystical icon of Vaikuntha. Built in AD 954, it was associated with Tantric Vaishnavism of the Kashmir school (Pancharatra). This image was acquired by the Chandella King Yashovarman as a victory token. It had originally come from the Kashmir-Chamba region where the god Vaikuntha was worshipped according to the Pancharatra school of tantric Vaishnavism. One of the grandest temples in Khajuraho, The Kandariya Mahadeva temple, built in about AD 1030, was affiliated to Siddhanta, a moderate Tantric Shaivite order.
Both Vaishnavite and Shaivite tantric orders existed and functioned in parallel, but within the Brahmanic fold. They were not extreme Tantric like the Kapalikas, but showed influences of the Vedic revival and had also drawn from various puranic elements. Both the orders believed in the role of Shakti or Female Energy in the Creation and Dissolution of the universe. The development of various theologies based directly or indirectly on these two tantric orders, led to philosophy and rituals of religious systems. Kings like Dhangadeva and Gahapati Kokkala invited groups of Brahmins, well-versed in the Vedas, to settle near the Shiva temples built by them.
Dancing girls like Mahanachani Padmavati who is mentioned in the Kalanjar inscription, performed and also donated to the temples; The numerous sculptures at the Khajuraho temples depict various architects, their masons, musicians, dancers, traders, which indicate the intense religious and cultural activity that flourished in Khajuraho during the medieval period
