Konark is 35 kilometres away
from Puri and 65 kilometres from Bhubaneswar. There is a bus service from these
cities to Konark. The place has 13.500 inhabitants. The main attraction in
Konark is the magnificent Great Sun Temple located at the seaside. The temple is Kalinga
architecture at its peak and is part of the Unesco program for world
monuments. The whole temple was conceived as a gigantic chariot for the sun god
Surya. The chariot was represented by twentyfour intricately carved out gigantic wheels
and seven sculptured horses at the basement of the structure. This itself was a revolutionary architectural concept.
Every detail of the building has a double symbolic meaning. The wheels for
example represent time and motion. It is believed that a visitor who stands in
front of one of the wheels can see in its shadow what time of the day it
is.
Thousands of erotic sculptures on the walls have been covered in sand during the era of the puritan Moghuls. Once they were a purely religious form of art without any intention of sexual arousement. The girls in the arms of their lovers depicted on the many sculptures which decorate the walls and the wheels of the Great Sun Temple all seem more or less identical. This reveals weariness of the artist who was forced to produce as many sculptures as possible without any creativity. Although the Kama Sutra mentions thirty two love positions only six or seven were depicted. Many pilgrims in the past probably took these images for granted and passed them without giving them much attention. Some pious men will have responded to these religious impulses by sexual intercourse with a temple prostitute, but any physical attraction was rarefied by devotion.
The ladies depicted on the walls of the Great Sun Temple are known as devadasis or servants of the gods. In the past they were selected with great care by government officials. The noble virgins in the highest of seven ranks were treated with outmost respect. They were well rewarded for their services at the royal court. Apart from sexual favours to courtiers and generous contributions to the temple treasuries they spended most of their time to the maintenance of the divine statues. In fact they were undercover agents of traditional beliefs and values. They were expected to be attractive, educated and entertaining. The devadasi system still exists in a clandestine and criminal context as many brothels in the large cities are supplied with innocent victims from remote villages.
The folklore speaks of Samba, son of Krishna, who built the temple in gratitude for his cure from lepra. In reality the temple was constructed by Narasimhadeva I of the Ganga-dynasty (1238-1264). In fear for muslim invaders the statue of the sun god was evacuated from the sanctuary in the seventeenth century. Later the temple was abandoned and neglected. In the beginning of the twentieth century, when British archaeologists removed the sand and rubble, the magnificent temple appeared in all glory.
Stalls near the road to the main entrance sell souvenirs and imitations of temple artefacts. Behind the main entrance two stone lions trample a stone elephant. A stair leads to the natamandap, a dancing hall without a roof. On the walls there are fine sculptures, like a woman washing her hair, a girl with a mirror, female musicians and dancers. The main temple is behind the dancing hall. The building consists of the jagamohan and the deul. The deul has collapsed so it is hard to imagine the enormous size of the building in former times. It looks like seven stone horses are ready to move the temple built as a chariot. To suggest a chariot 24 gigantic stone wheels are sculptured in the temple walls. They have minuscule erotic sculptures. Sculptures higher on the walls depict lovers in explicit sexual positions. One can climb on the collapsed deul to get a good look at the statues of the sun god Surya. These three statues catch the light of the rising sun, the sun at noon and the setting sun. On the left side and the right side of the jagamohan group statues of horses and elephants trample a human being.