write a travelogue on a visit to sun temple konark in 120 words
Answers
Answer:
One prime reason I wanted to visit Odisha was to see the Konark Sun Temple. Yes, it’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site! Though the original temple was built by Purandara Kesari in about 1080-90 CE, the current structure was built in 1250 CE under the reign of Eastern Ganga King Narasimha Deva. The temple is for Sun God! This is the epitome of Orissa Architecture! The marvel is that the whole temple is built in the shape of a chariot!!!
As soon as we enter is the 2 mighty monolithic Gaja-Simha (a human crushed by an elephant (gaja) which is in turn crushed by Simha (lion) on either side of the staircase! There are several philosophical and moral stories that float around about the symbolism, as explained by many guides, but none have proof. The extremely ridiculous things I’ve read about Konark include that presence of a magnet in the Siva Lingam that made a crystal above float… to the sunrays falling on the lingam 365 days a year (yeah, more often it’s a digitally altered image of Angkor Vat that accompanies these claims!)!! Big no, again none of these have any proof!
The temple continued to be in worship till 1570s, as mentioned in Ain e Akbari! However by 1573, Kalapahad raided Konark and the building fell into disuse. By 1620s the dieties here were shifted to Purushotama temple. After that over time, with lack of maintenance, the Deula / Tower collapsed!