The Konark Sun Temple

1.1 Who built the Konark Sun Temple?

The Konark Sun Temple stands in Odisha. King Narasimhadeva I of the Eastern Ganga dynasty built it. It is dedicated to Surya, the Sun God.

The temple belongs to the 13th century. Narasimha I ruled from 1238 to 1264. He was the son of Anangabhima III and took the throne in 1238.

1.2 What kind of king was Narasimha I?

He is described as the most powerful ruler of the Ganga empire. He ruled from Cuttack. His greatest rival in the north was Bengal, ruled by Muslim kings.

In the south he inherited a war with the Kakatiya ruler Ganapati Deva. So the temple came from a king who was also fighting wars. Its scale and refinement are read as signs of the strength and stability of the Ganga empire.

1.3 How long did the work take?

Tradition tells of twelve years of work by 1,200 artisans. The master builder in these stories is Bisu Moharana. In one legend his son completed the crowning part of the temple that the father could not finish.

These are legends, not records. They show how deeply the temple stayed in memory.

2.1 What does the temple look like?

The whole temple is designed as a giant stone chariot of the Sun God. The chariot has twelve pairs of wheels. Seven horses pull it.

Twelve wheels are carved on the north side of the platform and twelve on the south. Each wheel is about 3 metres across. The horses stand on the eastern stairway of the jagamohana, four on the south and three on the north.

2.2 Why was the temple built as a chariot?

In myth, the Sun God rides across the sky in a chariot. The builders turned that picture into stone. The chariot idea fits the Sun’s daily movement across the sky.

The wheels carry meaning too. One reading says the 24 wheels stand for the 24 fortnights of a year. Each wheel has eight major spokes. These are read as eight divisions of the day.

2.3 What do the horses and the name mean?

The seven horses are read as the seven days. The wheel itself was a symbol of the Sun God in the days before images.

The name Konark joins two words. Kona means corner and Arka means the Sun. So Konark means the Corner Sun.

3.1 What are its main parts?

The temple has several separate units. The main sanctuary is the vimana. It once had a high tower with a crowning cap, the shikhara. That tower was razed in the 19th century.

To the east, the jagamohana, or audience hall, dominates the ruins with its pyramidal mass. Farther east, the natmandir, or dance hall, stands unroofed on a high platform.

3.2 What is carved on the platform?

The platform between the wheels is covered with reliefs. They show fantastic lions, musicians and dancers, and erotic groups.

The carvings are also a window into the religious, political, social and secular life of the people of that period.

3.3 What stone was used?

Odisha temples are mostly built of stone. Three rock types were used: laterite, khondalite and chlorite. Laterite was used for foundations and enclosure walls. It does not admit of any fine carving.

Chlorite was used for cult images and sometimes for door frames. The masonry is dry. No mortar was used.

3.4 Which style is this?

Konark is called the culmination of Kalingan temple architecture. It shows all the defining elements of that style in complete and perfect form.

To see how this style sits beside the other great traditions, read Nagara and Dravida.

4.1 How old is Sun worship in India?

A myth tells of Samba, who was cursed with leprosy by Krishna. Krishna later advised him to go to Mitravana on the bank of the Chandrabhaga river. There he was to pray to Surya.

The first Sun temple is placed at Multan, in modern Punjab. Hsuan Tang in the 7th century and Alberuni in the 11th century both refer to it.

4.2 Where else are there Sun temples?

Sun worship spread to many regions. Temples to the Sun God came up at Modhera in Gujarat and at Martand in Kashmir, among other places.

Arasavalli in Andhra Pradesh is another famous example. Read the lesson on the Arasavalli Sun Temple to compare.

4.3 How did Odisha come to Konark?

Sun worship became popular in Odisha from an early period. Konark was its climax. Narasimha I built the Sun Temple in the mid-thirteenth century.

The Ganga kings were not devoted to one god alone. The earlier Gangas were Shaivas. From the time of Chodaganga they became Vaishnavas. Even so, they continued to respect Shiva. Narasimha I followed this tradition.

5.1 Who built the Jagannath temple at Puri?

In the early 12th century Anantavarman Chodaganga Deva occupied coastal Odisha. He is credited with the great temple of Jagannath at Puri. That was well before Narasimha I built Konark.

Narasimha I’s father, Anangabhima III, proclaimed himself the Deputy of Purushottama Jagannatha. So Puri stayed important in Ganga times.

5.2 Why was Konark called the Black Pagoda?

Early European sailors knew Konark as the Black Pagoda. They called the Jagannath temple at Puri the White Pagoda. The big temple close to the shore was an excellent landmark for ships in the Bay of Bengal.

The table follows the sources listed below.

5.3 How was this asked in an exam?

6.1 What is the legend?

A famous legend says a great lodestone, a natural magnet, sat at the top of the temple. In 1626 a visitor from Balkh, Mahmud bin Amir Wali, recorded a single piece of loadstone at the top of the building.

Another version says the Sun image hung in the air by means of loadstone. Some stories add that the magnet drew ships ashore.

6.2 Why do historians doubt it?

The builders used heavy iron beams to support the false roof and the door lintels. That does not fit a strong magnet at the top. The sacred seat and pedestal of the main deity were also found. So the image was not hanging in the air.

The sailing directories call the temple a landmark. Yet they never record any pull on ships. The idea that the magnet drew ships ashore seems improbable.

6.3 How was the temple held together?

The masonry is dry, with no mortar. Iron clamps held the stone slabs together at the joints.

Legends still grew around the ruin, as it is natural for a mysterious building. They are now part of the temple’s story.

7.1 How did the temple fall to ruin?

By 1626 the temple was already deserted and worship had ceased. The main tower slowly broke apart. The last fragment was brought down by a strong gale in October 1848.

A traveller in 1825 saw a section still standing about one hundred and twenty feet high. It looked like a ship under sail from a distance.

7.2 How was the rest saved?

The jagamohana stayed mostly intact. It was filled with sand in 1903 to protect it. The temple was declared a centrally protected monument on 22 March 1915.

7.3 Why is it a World Heritage Site?

The Sun Temple at Konarak was inscribed in 1984 under criteria (i), (iii) and (vi). Criterion (i) calls it a unique artistic achievement. Criterion (iii) calls it an outstanding testimony to the 13th-century kingdom of Orissa.

Criterion (vi) links it directly and materially to Brahmanism and tantric belief systems.

7.4 What should you remember for the exam?