Sun Temple & Its History

The Konark or Konarak Sun temple is devoted to the Hindu Sun God Surya and, imagined as a monster stone chariot with 12 wheels. It is situated around 35 km upper east of the city of Puri on the coastline in the territory of Odisha (prior Orissa). It was fabricated in 1250 CE by King Narasimhadeva I (r. 1238-1264 CE) of the Eastern Ganga line (eighth century CE - fifteenth century CE). The temple in its current state was pronounced by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site in 1984 CE. Albeit many segments are presently in ruins, what survives from the temple complex keeps on drawing vacationers as well as Hindu explorers.

Konarak remains as an exemplary illustration of Hindu sanctuary design, complete with a titanic construction, models, and work of art on horde subjects. The Eastern Gangas set up their realm in the Kalinga district in eastern India (present-day Odisha state) at "the start of the eighth century CE" (Tripathi, 368), however, their fortunes rose from the 11th century CE onwards. The best lord of this administration was Anantavarman Chodaganga (1077 - 1147 CE), who governed for around 70 years. He was a considerable fighter as well as a supporter of expressions, and incredibly preferred temple building. The incredible temple of the god Jagannatha at Puri, started by him, 'remains as a splendid landmark to the creative energy and success of Orissa during his rule' (Majumdar, 377). His replacements proceeded with the custom, with the most eminent being Narasimhadeva I who not just finished the development of the Jagannatha sanctuary yet additionally the temple at Konarak.

The word 'Konark' is a blend of two Sanskrit words Kona (corner or point) and arka (the sun). It subsequently infers that the principal god was the sun god, and the temple was underlying a rakish arrangement. The temple follows the Kalinga of Orissa style of design, which is a subset of the Nagara style of Hindu temple engineering. The Orissa style is accepted to exhibit the nagara style in the entirety of its immaculateness. The Nagara was among the three styles of Hindu temple design in India and won in northern India, while in the south, the Dravida style prevailed and in focal and eastern India, it was the vesara style. These styles can be recognized by how elements, for example, ground plan and rise were addressed outwardly.

The Nagara style is described by a square ground plan, containing a safe-haven and gathering corridor (mandapa). As far as to rise, there is a colossal curvilinear pinnacle (shikhara), slanting inwards and covered. Despite the way that Odisha lies in the eastern area, the Nagara style was taken on. This could be because of the way that since King Anantavarman's spaces included numerous regions in northern India, the style pervasive there definitively affected the building plans of the sanctuaries that were going to be implicit Odisha by the lord. When taken on, a similar practice was proceeded by his replacements as well, and with time, numerous increments were made.

By: Raghav Saxena
Birla School, Pilani