Konark Sun Temple History and Architecture

The Konark Sun Temple is a famous Indian temple dedicated to the Hindu sun god Surya. The word “Konark” is a combination of two Sanskrit words: “kona,” meaning “corner” or “angle,” and “arka,” meaning “sun.”

The temple is located 22 miles northeast of the city of Puri and 40 miles southeast of Bhubaneswar on the Bay of Bengal coastline in the Indian state of Odisha. This thirteenth-century sun temple was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984.

The thirteenth-century Konark Sun Temple has a storied history with many legends.

• Construction: The sun temple of Konark was built in the thirteenth century by King Narasimhadeva I of the Eastern Ganga dynasty, in then-Orissa. It was dedicated to the Hindu solar deity Surya.
• Design: Surya is commonly depicted in Indian iconography as rising from the east, traveling across the sky on a chariot pulled by seven horses. The temple has the appearance of the chariot, with twenty-four wheels and seven horses, all carved from stone.
• Decay: The Konarak Sun Temple originally stood more than 200 feet high, but over time, parts of it were destroyed. Theories about the temple’s deterioration include that was it was plundered by Muslim armies in the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries, damaged by natural events such as earthquake or lightning, or that the khondalite stone simply weathered away.
• Restoration: By the nineteenth century, Konark had fallen into disrepair, and some sculptures were removed and placed in museums or other temples, including Jagannath temple in the Puri district. Conservation efforts began in 1903, and since 1939, the Archaeological Survey of India has maintained Konark.
• Cultural touchstone: Konark is featured on the back of the ten-rupee banknote. The temple is popular with tourists, and many Indian cultural events, such as the Konark Dance Festival, are held there.

The Konark Sun Temple is an example of the Nagara style of architecture, one of the three styles of Hindu temple architecture. The Nagara temple is square-shaped, containing the sanctum where the deity is housed (the deul) and the pillared assembly hall (the jagamohana). Another Nagara feature is a tower (shikhara) curving inward towards the temple; the shikhara at Konark, which would have been 229-feet tall, no longer exists.

Konark also exemplifies the Kalinga (or Orissan) style of architecture. Kalinga features include a temple complex with the main sanctum (called rekha deul or bada deul) surrounded by smaller shrines (bhadra deu), as well as the main audience hall (jagamohana), a dance hall (nata mandira), and the dining hall (bhoga mandapa); the rekha deul no longer exists.

Notable design details of the Konark Sun Temple include:

1. 1. Symbolism: The chariot contains twelve pairs of wheels, each twelve feet in diameter, representing the twelve months of the Hindu calendar. The eight spokes of the wheel represent the eight intervals of the day, and the seven horses represent the days of the week.
2. 2. Sculptures: In addition to the temple’s giant chariot with twenty-four wheels and seven horses, the walls of the temple feature sculptures and reliefs. The pieces include an eleven-foot-tall depiction of Surya, multiple statues of King Narasimhadeva I, relief statues depicting scenes of domestic life, as well as erotic sculptures. There are also life-sized depictions of lions, elephants, and horses.
3. 3. Sunlight: The temple faces the east, so the first rays of sunlight hit the main entrance of the temple. The wheels of the chariot are also sundials and can be used to calculate the time.
4. 4. Materials: The sun temple comprises three types of stone: chlorite, khondalite, and laterite.

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