India Guide
Orissa
Konark
Address: 35km north of Puri
Price: Rs250
Opening time: Daily 9am–6pm
If you see only one temple in Orissa, it should be KONARK, one of India's most visited ancient monuments. Standing imperiously in its compound of lawns and casuarina trees, this majestic pile of oxidizing sandstone is considered to be the apogee of Orissan architecture and one of the finest religious buildings anywhere in the world.
The temple is all the more remarkable for having languished under a huge mound of sand since it fell into neglect around three hundred years ago. Not until the dune and heaps of collapsed masonry were cleared away from the sides, early in the twentieth century, did the full extent of its ambitious design become apparent. A team of seven galloping horses and 24 exquisitely carved wheels found lining the flanks of a raised platform showed that the temple had been conceived in the form of a colossal chariot for the sun god Surya, its presiding deity, and thus as a symbol for the passage of time itself. Equally sensational was the rediscovery among the ruins of some extraordinary erotic sculpture.
The main entrance to the temple complex on its eastern, sea-facing side brings you out directly in front of the bhoga-mandapa, or "hall of offerings". To get a sense of the overall scale, stroll along the low wall bounding the south side of the enclosure before tackling the ruins proper.
With the once-lofty sanctuary tower now little more than a clutter of sandstone slabs, the porch, or jagamohana, has become Konark's real centrepiece. Its impressive pyramidal roof, rising 38m, is divided into three tiers by rows of lifelike statues – mostly musicians and dancers serenading the sun god on his passage through the heavens. Though now blocked up, the huge cubic interior of the porch was a marvel of medieval architecture.
Marvellously elaborate sculpture embellishes the temple's exterior with a profusion of deities, animals, floral patterns, bejewelled couples, voluptuous maidens, mythical beasts and aquatic monsters. Some of Konark's most beautiful erotica is to be found in the niches halfway up the walls of the porch; look for the telltale pointed beards of sadhus, clearly making the most of a lapse in their vows of chastity.