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Konark - The Sun
Temple |
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A ruined temple in the headquarters subdivision situated
21 miles north-east of Puri town in 19° 53’ N. and 86° 6' E.
The temple is also known as the Blank Pagoda, a name given to it by
captains of coasting vessels, for whom it formed a prominent landmark.
It was dedicated to sun-god (Arka), and the tract in which it lies is
called in Sanskrit the Arka or Padma Kshettra. In this tract, the chief
holy sites were, according to the Kapila-samhita (a guide-book composed
probably in the 14th century), the
un-temple, the Maitreya
woods, the people called Mangala and Salmali-bhanda, the sea, the god
Rameswar, the tree Arka-bata, and the river Chandrabhaga.
All these
sacred sites have now disappeared, and can not be traced except the
first and the last, and the eternal sea. The sea is about a mile and a
half to the south-east of the temple, while the Chandrabhaga is now an
insignificant stream, about half a mole to the north. Its mouth is
closed by a sand-bar, through which, however, the tidal water forces its
way during the rains. At present, it drains only the neighboring tract;
but depressions exist indicating that it was once a branch of the Prachi
and flows nearer to the temple. Like that river, it has evidently
suffered by the diversion of the water of the Kathajuri into other
channels, and by the silting up of its bed owing to the drifts of sands
blown by the south-easterly winds. Its name, it may be added, is
borrowed from that of the larger river in the Punjab, with which the
sun-god is connected in the Samba-Purana. |
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The temple compound was surrounded by a wall, and the
principal gateway was to the east. The wall, which was
oblong in shape, seems to have been 885 feet from east
to west and 535 feet from north to south, and was
apparently 7 to 8 feet thick and 25 feet high. It was
surrounded by battlements, some of which now lie
scattered about. Two long platforms have been laid open
in the north-eastern corner of the courtyard, which was
apparently used for bathing the images. But a more
interestingly discovery which has followed the
excavation of sand is that of a fine hall with elaborate
carvings in front of the porch. |
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Its
roof is gone, but a high basement and the body wall
remain. The hall has four doors, one on each side, with
two windows on the right and the left of each door. The
inside is plain and devoid of ornament, but has four
massive richly carved pillars which supported the roof.
The carvings are of the same type as those on the
outside walls of the hall, but not obscene. The four
sides of the square pillars have been divided into two
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galleries, each consisting of a row of five ornamental
pilasters adorned with figures of animals, musicians and
dancing-girls. The hall outside is covered with carvings
of gods, celestial courtesans, humans figures,
musicians, etc a few being suggestively but not directly
obscene. Some call the hall a bhoga-mandapa, others a nata mandapa and it may be one of the six
temples mentioned in the Ain-i-Akbari as having been before the
entrance .A little to the west of the hall rises a flight of broad
steps, now broken leading to the eastern doorway of the porch. The
steps are 9 feet broad, and have side walls carved outside on each
side with four horses and two wheels of 16 spokes, thus representing
the flight of steps as a chariot on four wheels drawn by eight
horses. |
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The wheels are minutely carved, and the spaces
between the wheels and horses have pilasters showing
griffins, human faced nagas, heavenly dancing-girls, musicians,
human figures, etc. They stand on a pavement crowded with elephants in
various attitudes. At the foot of flights of steps, to the east, south
and north are now placed the guarding animals, two rampant lions over
crouching elephants, two elephants crushing demons, and two horses
trampling down enemies. The execution of the lions is conventional, but
that of the elephants and horses is spirited. |
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