Konark is famous for its Sun Temple which is situated in the Puri
district in the state of Orissa, India, on the Bay
of Bengal, 65 kilometers
from Bhubaneswar. The 13th-century Sun
Temple (also known as the
Black Pagoda), built in black granite by King Narasimhadeva-I (AD 1236-1264) of
the Eastern Ganga Dynasty. The temple is a World Heritage Site. It takes the form of the chariot of Surya (Arka),
the Sun God, and is heavily decorated with stone carving. The entire complex
was designed in the form of a huge chariot drawn by seven spirited horses on
twelve pairs of exquisitely decorated wheels. 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 (Dancing Hall). This is where the temple dancers used to perform
dances in homage to the Sun god. 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. Konark is also home to an annual dance
festival called Konark Dance
Festival, held every December, devoted to classical Indian dance
forms, including the traditional classical dance of Orissa, Odissi.
. Konark's village exists for the temple,
earning its income entirely from tourism via souvenir shops, food stalls, and
basic restaurants. The beach, Chandrabhaga, is quiet, wide, and clean but not
suitable for swimming because of the sharp currents; it offers an opportunity
to see fishing folk in action at dusk. Nearby is the functioning 40-year-old
Chandrabhaga lighthouse, open from 4 tO 5.
HISTORY
King Narasimha Deva-I of the Ganga
Dynasty had ordered this temple to be built as a royal proclamation of the
political supremacy of his dynasty. A workforce of 12 hundred artisans and
architects invested their creative talent, energy and artistic commitment for
an exhausting period of 12 years. The king had already spent an amount
equivalent to the state's revenue receipts of 12 years. However, the completion
of the construction was nowhere near sight. Then the king issued a final
command that the work be completed by a stipulated date. The team of architects
headed by Bisu Maharana was at its wit's end. It was then that Dharmapada the
12 year old son of the chief architect Bisu Maharana arrived there as a
visiting on looker. He became aware of the anxiety looming large among the
architects. Although he did not have any practical experience of temple
construction, he was thorough in his study of the theories of temple
architecture. He offered to solve the confounding problem of fixing the last
copping stone at the top of the temple. He surprised everyone by doing that
himself. But soon after this achievement the dead body of this adolescent
prodigy was found on the sea beach at the foot of the temple. Legend says that
Dharmapada laid down his life to save his community.The story behind this was,
after the dadhinauti was placed, artisans complained that if tomorrow morning
king knows that what 1200 artisans could
not do a boy could do that, they will surely get the death sentence. So they questioned to main artisan Bisu
Maharana that if he wants life of 1200 artisans or life of his son ? But Bisu
Maharana was numb. But his son heard this and sacrified his life to save the
life of 1200 artisans.
KALAPAHAD: THE FALL OF
KONARK
The most popular theory about the root of the fall of Konark temple
rests with the Kalapahad. According to the history of Orissa, Kalapahad invaded Orissa in 1508. He
destroyed Konark temple, as well as a number of Hindu temples in Orissa. The
Madala Panji of Puri Jagannath temple describes how Kalapahad attacked Orissa
in 1568. Including Konark temple, he broke most of the images in most of the
Hindu temples in Orissa. Though it was impossible to break the Sun temple of
Konark, the stone walls of which are of 20 feet (6.1 m) to 25 feet (7.6 m)
thick, he somehow managed to displace the Dadhinauti (Arch stone) and thus made a way for the temple to
collapse. He also broke most of the images and other side temples of Konark.
Due to displacement of the Dadhinauti, the temple gradually collapsed and the
roof of the Mukasala was also damaged, due to the stones falling down from the
temple top.
Consequently, Orissa came under Muslim control in 1568. There were
attempts to destroy the Hindu temples. The Pandas of Puri, to save the sanctity
of the Puri temple, took away the Jagannath from the temple and kept the image
in a secret place. Similarly, it is said that the Pandas of Konark took away
the presiding deity of the Sun temple and buried it under the sand for years.
Latter on the image was said to have been removed to Puri and kept in the
temple of Indra, in the compound of the Puri Jagannath temple. According to
others, the Puja image of the Konark temple is yet to be discovered. But others
hold the view that the Sun image now kept in the National Museum of Delhi was
the presiding deity of the Konark Sun temple.
However, the Sun worship in the Konark temple was ended upon the removal
of the image from the temple. This resulted in the end of pilgrimages to
Konark. The port at Konark was also closed, due to pirate attacks. Konark was
as glorious a city for Sun worship as it was for commercial activities, but
after the cessation of these activities, Konark became deserted and was left to
be enveloped by a dense forest over the years.
In 1626, the then king of Khurda (now a district in Orissa), Raja Narasimha Dev, son
of Purusottam Dev, took away the Sun image to Puri along with two other moving
deities - Sun and Moon. Now they are found in a temple in the compound of Puri
Jagannath temple.In the year 1779, a Maratha Sadhu had taken away the Aruna Khumba (Pillar) from Konark and
put it in front of the Lion's Gate of Puri Jagannath temple. Thus by the end of
18th century, Konark lost all its glories and had been turned to a
dense forest. In course of time, the temple area thus became devoid of people,
covered with dense forest, filled with sand, overrun by wild animals and became
the abode of pirates. It is said that even the locals feared to go to Konark in
broad daylight.
LODESTONE
Legends describe a lodestone on the top of the Sun temple. Due to its
magnetic effects, vessels passing through the Konark sea were drawn to it,
resulting in heavy damage. Other legends state that magnetic effects of the
lodestone disturbed ships' compasses so that they did not function correctly.
To save their shipping, the Portuguese voyagers took away the lodestone, which
was acting as the central stone and keeping all the stones, and the iron
columns used to hold them walls together, of the temple wall in balance. Due to
its displacement, the temple walls lost their balance and eventually fell down.
But there is no record of this occurrence in any historical records, nor is
there any record of the existence of such a powerful lodestone at Konark.
According to Legend the image of the deity or the statue of the Sun God
was built of a material with iron content with 1 large magnet on top of the
temple, 1 in the basement and 4 large magnets in the interiors to make the
statue hang / float /suspend in air. The question remains though is how the
magnets retained their effect over time as all magnetic materials loose their
magnetic strength over time
