Konark

The Sun Temple at Konark

The sun temple alsocalled as Konark temple is located at Konark, Odisha, India. The temple is dedicated to Sun God. Hence it is so named. It is also called as Black Pagoda. Probably it is so named by the Europeans.


The Sun Temple was built at the time of King Narasimhadeva in thirteenth century. The temple was built using sand stone. Perhaps it is one of the few mysterious things in Odisha. Thousands of people visit the temple each day. It is sure that you will appreciate the temple, the architecture, the art form.  But people from different mind set view it from different angles.  As a Odia boy I remember that starting from class-I to Class-12, we studied about Koanrk Sun temple several times, sometimes as a prose and sometimes as a poetry, in Odia language or in english. The stone carving, the architecture, the art, the dance forms has puzzled them. The writer have agreed in some aspects of the temple and disagreed on several other aspects. The writers and poets interpreted it differently.

King Narasimhaveva-I ordered the erection of the temple. For which 1200 carpenters were employed. The 1200 carpenters took 12 years to construct the temple. They left home and family for building konark temple. The construction work was headed by the chief architect Bishu Maharana. But after 12 years labour the carpenters were unable to complete the temple. The problem was that the whole temple along-with its surrounding was complete except the top of the Temple. However they tried to complete the top of the temple, they were unsuccessful. The top portion collapsed several times after completion. The king issued ultimate date of completion. The carpenters were worried and in deep thought.

Superior Stone Sculpture

The carpenters had left home for last 12 years. In the mean time  the son of the head architect Bishu Maharana has become 12 years old. His name is Dharmapada.  He asked his mother to pay a visit to his father at Konark. His mother agreed and Dharmapada left home to see his father. When he reached Konark he gave identity to his father. Soon he came to know the reason of sorrow and unhappiness in the face of the carpenters. He then decided to finish the top portion of the temple which collapsed several times. Helplessly everybody agreed and left it on the hands of Dharmapada. Dharmapada did not have any practical experience in temple building but he was thorough in the theory of temple building and architecture. He was successful in completing the top of the temple. All the carpenters were surprised. But everybody was afraid that, when the king will come to know that the temple was finally completed by the 12 year old boy then the king will be angry and punish the carpenters. Irrespective of his father's request Dharmapada decided to sacrifice his life to save the life of twelve hundred carpenters of his community. He jumped from the top of the Konark to the Sea and died. The sea now has receded to about three kilometers from the Konark temple.


The Konark temple is in the form of a chariot. It is the chariot of Surya (Surjya) the Sun god. The chariot has 24 wheels. The chariot is pulled by seven horses. The  seven horses represent the seven composition colors of the sun rays. The 24 wheels of the Konark is some way associated with the life of a human being in a day in 24 hours.

One of 24 wheels of Chariot Konark

It is also said that once there was a large magnet on the top of the temple. It is believed that the magnet was able to attract ships made of steel. Hence the magnet was removed by the British. But I feel that it is a wrong concept. Actually the magnetic field due to this magnet was disturbing the magnet piece used in the ship for finding noth-south direction. So the magnet at ship showed wrong direction. Hence the magnet at the top of the temple was removed. But the reason of placing the magnet at the top of the temple is still a puzzle.

Part of konark is in ruin. The government of Odisha has been able to restore part of the temple. Many great people described Konark in their own languages in their own mental setup. different people viewed the same temple and its stone carvings and sculptures from different angle. Never miss this great temple.  I feel that you may find something new which others have not found at Konark.

Each year Konark Dance festival is held at Konark around the month of December. It is an unique opportunity to see famous dancers of different classical dance forms performing on a single stage