The Sun Temple of Konark - UNESCO World Heritage Centre - UPSC

The Sun Temple of Konark is a world heritage site which is located in Odisha an eastern state of India, one of the seven wonders of the world and the past, the monument evokes Global interest even now. Planned as a massive chariot drawn by 12 pairs of wheels, It had splendid setting on the bay of bengal, of a cluster of five temples what remains is the assembly hall called Jagamohana and a great plinth and that too in terminal state of leprous decay, yet the compelling Beauty surfacing miraculously from these ruins attract tourists world over. 

What is so special about Konark ?

Sun has been worshipped from the very dawn of civilization in every country, Ra of Egypt is the earliest known sun god of 24th century BC, he is Helios in Greece, Taiyang Shen in China, Liza in Africa, historians claim that institutional sun worship in India has an Iranian Turanian origin. Sun Worship in India dates back to Rigveda, Sun Temple exists in many places in India the earliest was the Martand sun temple in Kashmir dated 724 -  725 AD it's also in ruins. 

Sun Temple of Konark built between 1242 and 1258 AD was the last major Center of sun worship, was it because of its great beauty and grandeur that it was treated as one of the seven wonders of the world,There are something beyond its external beauty that makes this Temple memorable .

A part of the crowd perhaps wonders what the stupendous creation originally was but a major part comes here to derive chronicle pleasure from the thousands of erotic sculptures both the groups cannot even conceive to what depth of human feeling a medieval artists had gone into.

Behind every great art there is a great philosophy until that philosophy is understood, the real greatness of the sun Temple of Konark will not be understood. Start from the temple itself it's not a structure alone with certain mundane and roles to play Hindus treat the temple as a living human being they call the human body deh mandira Body the Temple. It is a illustration of Kalinga Architecture, different parts of the structure are named after different parts of the bodies Padh (foot), Junga (thigh), Gandi (body above waist), Mastaka (head) and so on, the tall tower of Rekha Temple is considered as man and the squat ornamented temple in front as woman the universe exists from the combined force of man and woman, Hindu philosopher as also like and the human body to a chariot.

"Atmanam rathinam vidhi

shariram rathameva tu

Buddhim tu sarathim viddhi

manaha pragahameva cha॥"

This is from "Katha Upanishad" ""body is a chariot of which soul is the master intellect is its charioteer and mind it's brittle"", the great architect of Konark added to this concept solar presents and the Eternal journey of humanity on stone he expressed. Powered by solar grace the united journey of man and woman in their bodily chariot rolls on and on through days, weeks, months, years and generations after generations to eternity this is deathless (amruta), there is nothing parochial, narrow or communal in this great philosophy no mention of even any known religion.

Not the human beings alone every form of living creature is involved in this eternal journey, take for instance the first trip of the plinth on which the giant wheel seem to be rolling, this one foot wide and above a thousand feet long strip is filled with elephants engaged in various activities, symbolically the mighty elephants are carrying the whole moving and churning world on their back as you go up you come across a whole world of known and imaginary creatures, you come across to the mighty Gajasimha lion with a human head resting and assuring for on the head of a child and snake coils transforming into divine couple, great war scenes and almost every form of human activities have filled the wall, while 12 pairs of mighty wheels seem frozen in the eternal motion, there are eight major spokes in each wheels signifying passage of eight segments of the day (prahara), each pair of wheel constitutes a month and each one a fortnight.

There are seven horses in the front drawing this Mighty Chariot they signify seven days of the week some say the seven colors of refracted sun ray, the iconography planning reserve space for God's and semi-gods most of which are looted, yet you will remain frozen at the site of the needle sharp workmanship on one panel of navagraha, the dancing musician placed high above and the jaga mohan it has earned world renowned had they been placed in any European Museum.

Discussion on Konark will be incomplete without discussing the erotic sculptures many theories have been advanced on these seemingly obscene images Percy Brown who at one state had named these cultures plastic obscenity recorded letter deep within the sculpture Stones lies an artless perfection that is full of art inexpressible yet potent like the musical notes, songs without words or the hunting indefinable melodies of the nocturnes debuchy.

Till the 7th Century ornamentation from the Odishan temples were few, but there was no bar on decorating walls inside the train change thereafter while the external surface was ornamented more and more the inside were shorn of all ornamentation. Symbolically they were telling man and woman come together attracted by physical charms but once they merge in each other all externals attractions get lost. The architect seems to have been influenced by under mentioned scriptures one of the many in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.

"This image of the soul is divided of lust or guilt like a couple indeed embrace her getting their outer or inner cravings and in a state of oneness the soul is beyond desire, lost or sorrow that is the state in which these couples have remained frozen."

In these erotic sculptures you will not find a single instance of rape or physical atrocity. The churning world of humanity is merged in cosmic one, there was a specific reason why King Narsimhadeva-1 invested a fortune on this great moment and that reason is valued still at a time when Odisha was rolling in Jagannath Bhakti and Jagannath an incarnation of Vishnu was the royal icon of Ganga Dynasty.

What compared the brightest star of the dynasty to create a temple much bigger and much more beautiful than any Temple then and consecrated there in the Sun god having few followers then, the society then were so bitterly divided between Vaishnavism, Shaivism and Shaktism, that the president social grapes may pale out in comparison, the king had understood without social amity his country cannot prosper. He used religion itself has a tool of reformed here also realized that every religion preaches good conduct followers to wish them to create discourse if the followers could be brought together under one roof and encouraged to discuss much of the rift may even out, he placed on one pedestal the Lingam, Lord Jagannath and Maa Bhawani representing the three wiring cults and stood paying ovation.

Sun was grace brooks no barrier of religion, caste, creed color or nationality while the perfect foil to his radical thought unfortunately the noble King at little time to implement his Royal strategy. The temple was consecrated in 1258 AD and Narasimha tenure was ended by 1264. The strategy is still valid in a world torn in hatred, distrust and religious fanaticism.

There is an inner craving in every art lover to see this great temple rising again in a new avatar, easier said than done. 

A two hundred twenty eight feet tall temples which stood for centuries without any cementing material in its joints is a technical marvel Iron beams lying in open for over a century have not rusted a bit, these achievements did not happen in dreams these medieval builders highly advanced race whose great technologies are lost, modern builders had to make a lot of research to build such a temple.

Then there exists a valid criticism that a copy cannot create the same ambience the sun Temple of Konark was an epic written on stone epics contains certain eternal values, epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata have been written time and again each of them is written in a manner confirming to the contemporary social motion, yet the eternal values contained in these epics have not been lost.

This Great Sun Temple of Konark is a true Indian Heritage and it's our responsibility to keep it safe. 

A group of senior citizens of Orissa have assembled under the banner of "Kalinga Heritage Preservation Trust" to create a global Sun Temple and the architecture spiritual and secular tradition of the sun Temple of Konark. 

It is for the global Community to come forward and make this great dream a reality.