The world-famous sun temple in India is located in the Puri district of Odisha state. The Sun Temple at Konark is about 35 kilometres from the Lord Jagannath Temple in Puri. Konark is a small village to the south of the Mahanadi delta in the Puri district. It is situated on the east coast of India and is famous for the Sun Temple, which is 65 km away from Bhubaneswar. It is one of the sacred Kshetras found in Kapila Samhita. Konark is known as Padmakhetra or Arka Kshetra. The term Konark has been attributed to the words Kona and Arka, meaning corner and sun, respectively. Hence, the etymology corner is known as the sun.
History of Konark Sun Temple
The temple of the sun god was built in the thirteenth century AD by King Narasimhadeva of the Ganga dynasty. The patron deity of the temple was the sun, Arka. The image of the sun was worshipped in the Garbhagriha. But now it is no more. The temple stands on its own now. The temple stands on the shore of the Bay of Bengal and gets the first rays of the rising sun at its main entrance. The European marines called the temple Blackpagoda. This helped them as a landmark during their sea voyages. This great edifice was included in the list of world heritage monuments by UNESCO in 1984. Konark is only 35 km away from Puri on Marine Drive Road. There are 12 famous Sun temples in India, of which the Konark Sun Temple is world-famous.
The Sun temple was built in the form of a chariot of the sun god. Nearly twelve hundred artisans laboured for 16 years for the completion of the temple. The temple was completed on 13 January 1258 AD on a Sunday. Dharmapada, son of Bisu Maharana, sacrificed his life at the end in the sea and reached the pinnacle. The height of the Konark temple was 228 feet, and Mukhasala was 150 feet. Now the height of the Mukhasala is 130 feet due to the falling off of the pinnacle and the vase. Now, the sight of the ruined temple still stands as the holy site for worshipping the sun god and the nine planets. There is no shadow of the Konark Sun Temple at any time of the day.
The temple is a masterpiece of the engineering skill and architecture of Odisha artisans. Every day, a large number of visitors come here to have a look at the wonder of the temple art and architecture, besides the worshipped sun god and Nabagraha images. Every year on the day of Magha Sukla Saptami, a fair called Magha Mela is held here at the river Chandrabagha. Thousands of people came here to see the Mela and the natural scenery of the seaside. The archaeological museum of Konark is another attraction that remains open from sunrise to 8 pm. The Konark Sun Temple is called the Black Pagoda. The Konark Temple is a famous tourist place in Odisha, India.
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