The Sun has inspired some of the most fantastic monuments on earth. The first coast to see the sun’s rays each day is the Eastern one – and perhaps no temple in India best captures the suns rays as the Konark Temple in Orissa.
Dedicated to Surya, the Hindu deity of the Sun, the temple takes the shape of a massive chariot, with 12 wheels symbolizing the 12 months in a year (or the 12 zodiacs), pulled by a pair of mighty chariots representing the Sun God himself. Chlorite sculptures depict Surya at varying stages of his journey as the sun during each day; youthful in the morning, at full strength around midday and tired but satisfied at sunset.
1815 sketch of stone horses and wheels of the mandapa. From the source, Pen and ink drawing of a sculpture that is part of the processional chariot pulled by horses from the Surya temple at Konarak in Orissa, from an album of 37 drawings (43 folios) of sculpture at Jajpur, Puri, Bezwada and Sitanagar made during a journey from Bengal through Orissa to the Coromandel Coast, dated 1815. Image: British Library, Public domainTo visit the temple is to engross oneself in Vedic astronomy and the mythology of the celestials. Around the time of the temple’s construction in 1242, was a mighty solar eclipse – represented in the area by a depiction of ‘Rahu,’ the demon that eats the Sun during such eclipses.
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