Konark Sun Temple,Orissa

The Sun Temple, built in the thirteenth century, was conceived as a gigantic chariot of the Sun God, Surya, with twelve pairs of exquisitely ornamented wheels pulled by seven horses. Majestic in conception, this temple is indeed one of the most sublime monuments of  India. 

  

                                                                            

Legends of Konark - The local legends say that King Narasimha Deva-I of the Ganga Dynasty had ordered the temple to be built as a symbol of political supremacy of his dynasty. Over 1200 of the most capable artisans and architects worked continuously for 12 years on the construction of the temple. It is said that the king had already spent an amount equal over 12 years of the tax collections

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However, the completion of the temple was still far from over. Enraged the king issued an ultimatum that the work be completed by a stipulated date with dire consequences otherwise. The team of architects headed by Bisu Maharana was unable to produce a solution to their architectural problem.

 It is said that Dharmapada--the young son of the chief architect Bisu Maharana--arrived there as a visiting onlooker. He became aware of the anxiety looming large among the architects. Although he did not have any practical experience of temple construction, he was careful in his study of the theories of temple architecture.

                                                       

He offered a solution to the problem of fixing the last stone at the top of the temple. He surprised everyone by doing that himself. But soon after his glorious achievement the dead body of this adolescent prodigy was found on the sea beach at the foot of the temple. It is often regarded that Dharmapada laid down his life to save his community.

                                

The temple was dedicated to the Sun-God (Arka), popularly called Biranchi-Narayan, and the area in which it is located was known as Arka-Kshetra as well as padma-kshetra. According to folklore, Samba, son of Lord Krishna, was struck with leprosy due a curse of Lord Krishna himself. Samba for 12 years underwent harsh atonement at Mitravana, near the convergence area of Chandrabhaga River with the sea at Konark. He was finally successful in pleasing the SUN god (Surya), the healer of all skin diseases, and was cured of his ailment.

This gigantic chariot of the Sun God, there are  twelve pairs of exquisitely decorated wheels. Each
 wheel (2.9 m in diameter) of the chariot,and  the face of the jagamohana, is shown on its axle, a decorated hub and even an axle pin. The hub of the wheel is decorated with beaded rings and a few of lotus-petals.

 Even In the center of each spoke are richly carved medallions with gods such as Surya and Vishnu, erotic and amorous figures, kanyas in various mudras (poses), noblemen and animals. 

All around the temple, there are various floral and geometric patterns. There are also human, divine and semi-divine figures in sensuous poses. The poses contains couples in various amorous poses, and are derived from the Kama Sutra. The temple is now partly in ruins, and a collection of its sculptures is housed in the Sun Temple Museum, which is run by the Archaeological Survey of India.

                                                                           

 Every inch of the temple is covered with sculpture of an unsurpassed beauty and grace, in tableaux and freestanding pieces ranging from the monumental to the miniature.

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 The entire temple compound is full of well designed beautiful garden of various trees and plants..All around the temple compound there are a number of beautiful sculpture. The alignment of the Sun Temple is on the east-west direction. The Temple is located in natural surroundings, abounding with casuarina plantations and other types of trees such as mahogany, rosewood, eel which grow on sandy soil.   

The entrance is guarded by two lions, which are each shown crushing a war elephant. Each elephant in turn lies on top of a human body. The temple symbolises the majestic stride of the Sun god. At the entrance of the temple is a Nata Mandir This is where the temple dancers used to perform dances in homage to the Sun god.                                                                    

           

The platform (3.9 m high) rests on a low upana (the plinth) with three broad flight of steps, facing North, South and East doors of the porch leading to its top. Running right round the base of the temple, the facade of the upana has extraordinary friezes featuring military processions....

 Every inch of the temple is covered with sculpture of an unsurpassed beauty and grace,We can also see the human, divine and semi-divine figures in sensuous poses. The poses contains couples in various amorous poses, most of which  is now partly in ruins by salty wind of sea.......

The poet Rabindranath Tagore wrote of Konark: "Here the language of stone surpasses the language of man.'' 

     
                        
                                      " Konark literally means “Essence of the Corners”.

 36 KM away from Konark near Jagannath Temple and 60 KM from South of state capital Bhubaneswar    there is one of the most beautiful sea beach of Eastern coast of Bay of Beagal is PURI..our destination was there..

 
It is Famous for it's excellent surroundings...A wonderfull sea beach with a calm atmosphere.thre are two famous things 'Khaja' and 'Catki' Khaja is a kind of sweet which is favourate of Lord Jaganath of Puri. Lord personally came in dream of a man from Puri and instructed him..and Catki is a kind of cotton made in Cuttak..

                                                                Thanks for visit                                                  
                                                                        
                             

                                    "All are collected from our recent Konark tour" -Mintu Haldar