Konark Temple

Konark Sun Temple

     Konark Sun Temple is a 13th-century CE Sun temple at Konark about 36 kilometres northeast from Puri on the coastline of Odisha, India. The temple is attributed to king Narasinga Deva I of the Eastern Ganga Dynasty about 1250 CE.

      Frequently referred to as the Black Pagoda, the Konark Temple was constructed in the mid-13th century by Raja Narasinghs Deva-I of the Ganga Dynasty. The temple is unique in its architecture and is built in the form of a chariot driven by seven horses on 12 pairs of decorated wheels.

     

The Sun worship in the Konark temple, including pilgrimages, ended with the removal of the image from the temple. The port at Konark closed due to pirate attacks. Konark's renown for Sun worship matched its fame commercial activities, but after the Sun Temple ceased to attract faithful, Konark became deserted, left to disappear in dense forests for years.

The Madala Panji of Puri temple has recored that in 1028, Raja Narasimha Dev ordered measurements taken of all the temples at Konark. At the time of measurement, the Sun temple construction reached Amalak sila, i.e. about 200 feet in height. Kalapahad had only destroyed its Kalas, the crowning stone and the Padma-dhwaja, the lotus finial and the upper portions.

The legend says that King Narasimha Deva-I of the Ganga Dynasty had ordered the temple built as a royal proclamation of the political supremacy of his dynasty. A workforce of 1,200 artisans and architects invested their creative talent, energy and artistic commitment for 12 years. The king had spent an amount equivalent to the state's revenue receipts of over the 12 years, yet the completion of the construction remained impossibe to predict. The king issued a command to complete the work by a set date. The team of architects, headed by Bisu Maharana, lost hope of completion of the temple. Dharmapada, the 12 year old son of the chief architect Bisu Maharana, arrived as a visiting onlooker. He became aware of the dispair overwhelming the architects. Although he lacked experience constructing temples, he thoroughly studied the theories of temple architecture. He offered to solve the confounding problem of fixing the last copping stone at the top of the temple, surprising everyone by doing that himself. But soon after that achievement, workers found the body of that adolescent prodigy on the beach at the foot of the temple. Legend state that Dharmapada offered his life to save his community.