The Khajuraho temples are now set in a parkland landscape. 
When India gained independence from Britain in 1947 the landscape 
setting was semi-desert and scrub. The archaeological park now has something 
of the character of an English public park, with mown grass, rose beds and ornamental trees. 
This may be popular with visitors but has no relationship with the historic landscape 
at the time the temples were built. The development of landscape archaeology as 
an academic discipline raises questions concerning the landscape of archaeology of 
Khajuraho and the original relationship between the temple complex and the surrounding area. 
There are no records of what the original landscape might have been but it is known 
that a large community of priests used the temple complex and that Indian gardens in 
the tenth century were predominantly tree gardens. They did not have lawns or herbaceous flowering plants.