Expressions from Konarka…..
Note: All photographs and the content belongs to Christel Pilz….
Sun Temple Konarka — repair under the British 1903 AD
How to save this wonder of Art and devotion of the Artisans? Excerpt from the Times of India article:
MAGNIFICENT MYSTERY, by Sandeep Mishra | Jan 15, 2015,
“It was between 1900 and 1903, on the order of then lieutenant governor of Bengal J A Baurdilon, that a major excavation was undertaken around the Jagamohan; its interior partitioned with a 15-ft wide stone wall and stuffed with sand. More than a century later, the huge volume of sand is now said to be posing a threat to the Khondalite structure, resulting in cracks and seepage of water. Big stone blocks have also reportedly fallen off, triggering fears that the temple could someday cease to exist. What then needs to be done? On offer are a range of opinions varying from the scientific to the unscientific, the real to the imagined and the reasonable to the absurd. Some favour getting rid of the sand; others oppose it. Some suggest supporting the temple with steel rods; others want status quo. The main driving force propelling all these views is the overriding concern about the fate of the temple, a Unesco-declared world heritage site since 1984.
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), which has since 1939 been looking after the Sun Temple (declared a centrally-protected monument in 1915) has refrained from taking any action ( not quite so , see the renovation in 2009 ! ) inviting criticism from different quarters about its conservation strategies. Like so many issues about Konarka, the future conservation plans, too, remain unclear.”
Sun Temple Konarka — The Nagas
More to the Konarka temple/India — the Nagas. There are quite a few, more than it is shown here. One may wonder, what do the Nagas and this temple, being a temple of the Sun, have in common? Are they reminders of the long ago past, when Wise Men of the Empire of the Sun, left their Motherland in the East to bring their advanced civilisation to India, where they established the first Hindu empire? 70 000 or only 35 000 years ago? These Wise Men were called Naacals, later known as Nagas, the Empire of the Sun was called the Motherland or Mu, short for Lemuria and their people were called Mayas. So one may read in the Ramayana, which does not only talk of Rama and Sita, but also of the long ago past. One may also read Chapter 11 the book “ the Children of Mu”, written by James Churchward about 100 years ago and check on Tibetan records, which are mentioned by Churchward, that the Naacals settled in India 70 000 years ago.
Sun Temple Konarka — Bands of animals
This is interesting, foreign traders gifting a giraffe to the Kalinga King. Giraffe is not found in Indian Subcontinent. But a giraffe in this 13th century temple showing the maritime activities of Kalinga.
Sun temple Konarka — Life as it was and is. See the postures and expressions
Sun temple Konarka — Deities and Attendants at the Konarka temple
These are pictures taken 8 years ago.. they are not in the right sequence and I am not sure, whether all of them are deities and who are their attendants. I just show what I found in my long sleeping file. Note the tall size of the deities and the attendants next to them.
See the first pic, sent to us by our dear friend Radhika Tipre …
Sun Temple Konaraka — Dancers and Musicians..
See the the Dancers and Musicians at the Natya Mandir. See their joyful faces — while reading the story below, the story why there never has been a Puja at this so enormously beautiful temple. To learn and understand the message of this story may be more important than doing Pujas — which so often are done just for one’s own personal sake, for fulfillment of one’s own desires ( Ego). May Visitors be aware — and learn to control their EGO.
How is it possible that the Sun God did not get worshipped in one of the most epic temple built for him? The story goes back to 13th century A.D. , when 1200 WORKERS (stone carving workers) worked for 12 years to build the KONARKA TEMPLE which is spread across 12 acre on the command of the King Narasimhadeva-1 of the Eastern Ganga Dynasty. The temple which was in the form of a chariot was built of stone which was brought from the hills of Khandagiri and Udaygiri about 100 km from Konarka. It was an engineering masterpiece where the entire structure was built of stone and they were interlocked by metals. The entire metal skeleton was held together by a huge magnet which was more than 5 tons in weight. The konarka temple which we see is just the MUKHASALA (the entrance) of the temple. The existing structure is just 127 ft high but the actual temple was 227 ft high.
It is said that the Idol of the Sun God was made of ASTADHATU (alloy of 8 metals) and was suspended in mid air balanced by the magnet. King Narasimhadeva-1 had determined a deadline for the completion of the temple and if the WORKERS failed to do it then he had declared to behead all 1200 WORKERS. The temple was completed in time except for the DADHINAUTI (the crown stone) . There was some problem occurring while the WORKERS were trying to install it and it used to fall down and hence they were not able to complete the work. On the second last day of the deadline the chief architect BISU MAHARANA had already gone into depression since he realised that the king was going to kill all 1200 men who had worked day and night and 1200 families were going to get destroyed in a day.
Suddenly he saw a young boy coming in search of him , his name was DHARMPADA. The boy came and told BISU MAHARANA that he was his son. Mahrana had never seen his son since his son was 12 year old and all this while he was there busy in the work of the temple. He got really elated seeing his son for the 1st time and the father son had some moments of delight but after some time Maharana gave the sad news to DHARAMA that the king is going to kill all of the 1200 WORKERS since they were not able to build the temple in time. The 12 year old boy went ahead and to the utter surprise of everyone DHARAMA was able to install the DADHINAUTI . The problem in hand was solved but still everyone started discussing that if the king gets to know that a 12 year old boy was the person responsible for this success of the work rather than the 1200 experienced WORKERS then anyway the king would kill them all.
In the silence of the night DHARMAPADA decided to sacrifice his life by jumping into the Chandrabhaga river from the top of the temple and save the 1200 WORKERS from getting beheaded. Since the temple became unholy with the death of DHARAMA Sun God was never worshipped there. Myth says that DHARMAPADA was an Avatar of the Sun God who had come to demolish the ego of the King who was in the same illusion which every human being with power and money thinks “HE IS IN CONTROL” of everything around him.
Taken from: http://victoriaclubhotel.com/why-sun-god-was-never-ever-wo…/
Konark Sun Temple-the dance hall..
Konaraka temple in Odisha — The temple as a chariot with 24 wheels, pulled by 7 horses — a magnet on the top of the Shikara?
The Konarak Temple was praised by the great Indian poet and nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore as a monument where “the language of stone surpasses the language of man”.
But what does one really know about its creation?
See a composition, done with of drawings and video pictures found in the Internet.
Archaeologists and historians differ on most questions. What one sees is that the structure resembles a colossal chariot with 12 pairs of wheels, lavishly sculpted, may be meant as a sun dial (?), pulled by seven horses, designed to let the first rays of the sun fall on the main entrance. Arka means Surya or Sun and Kona stands for corner)’.
There is, however , a palm-leaf manuscript begins with the appointment of the chief architect, a Brahmin priest called Sadasiva Samantaray Mahapatra, who appointed the executive architect, the superintendent of works, the chief image-maker, the head stone-mason, the maker of the scaffolding, the plasterers, and so on. The ground of the enclosure in which the temple was to stand was then ritually purified, the ground-plan marked out and materials were assigned to the various groups of workers. Three different types of stone — none found in the vicinity — were quarried, placed on wooden rollers and hauled to the site by elephants. As the height of the temple increased the roughly shaped stone blocks were lifted into lace by pulleys and a system of leverage… (A.Boner and Sadashiva Rath Sarma, New light on the Sun Temple of Konarak, Varanasi 1962) loc.cit. Hugh Honour, John Fleming, 2005, A world history of art, Laurence King Publishing.
Thanks….
Christel Pilz
Ban Sattahip, Chon Buri, Thailand
