Konark is a medium-sized town in the

Puri district Puri district is a coastal district of the Odisha state of India. It has one Administrative subdivision, sub-division, 11 Tehsils, tahasils and 11 Block (country subdivision), blocks and comprises 1722 revenue villages. Puri is the only Nagar ...

in the state of

Odisha Odisha (), formerly Orissa (List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2011), is a States and union territories of India, state located in East India, Eastern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by ar ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. It lies on the coast by the

Bay of Bengal The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. Geographically it is positioned between the Indian subcontinent and the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese peninsula, located below the Bengal region. Many South Asian and Southe ...

, 65 kilometres from the state capital

Bhubaneswar Bhubaneswar () is the capital and the largest city of the States and territories of India, Indian state of Odisha. It is located in the Khordha district. The suburban region, especially the old town, was historically often depicted as ''Chakra ...

. It is the site of the 13th-century Sun Temple, also known as the ''Black Pagoda'', built in black

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

during the reign of Narasinghadeva-I. The temple is a

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

. The temple is now mostly in ruins, and a collection of its sculptures is housed in the Sun Temple Museum, which is run by the

Archaeological Survey of India The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is an Indian government agency that is responsible for archaeological research and the conservation and preservation of cultural historical monuments in the country. It was founded in 1861 by Alexander ...

. Konark is also home to an annual dance festival called

Konark Dance Festival Konark Dance Festival is a five-day dance festival held every year in the month of December mostly from 1 to 5 in backdrop of the Sun temple in Konark, Odisha in India. It is one of the biggest dance festivals held in Odisha. The exquisite 'Sal ...

, devoted to classical Indian dance forms, including the traditional classical dance of Odisha,

Odissi ''Odissi'' (''ଓଡ଼ିଶୀ'') also referred to as ''Orissi'' in old literature, oldest surviving classical dance of India, is a major ancient Indian classical dance that originated in the Hindu temple, temples of Odisha – an eastern ...

. In February 2019, the Konark Dance Festival (now called Konark Music and Dance Festival) will be hosting its 33rd edition. The state government is also organising annual Konark Festival and International Sand Art Festival at

Chandrabhaga Beach Chandrabhaga Beach is situated three km east of the Sun temple of Konark, in the Puri district in the state of Odisha, India. It is 30 km from the city of Puri. Formerly Chandrabhaga was considered a place of natural cure for lepers. ...

of Konark. On 16 February 1980, Konark lay directly on the path of a total

solar eclipse A solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between Earth and the Sun, thereby obscuring the view of the Sun from a small part of Earth, totally or partially. Such an alignment occurs approximately every six months, during the eclipse season i ...

Etymology

The name ''Konârka'' is derived from the

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

word ''Kona'' (meaning ''angle'') and word ''Arka'' (meaning ''sun'') in reference to the temple which was dedicated to the Sun god

Surya Surya ( ; , ) is the Sun#Dalal, Dalal, p. 399 as well as the solar deity in Hinduism. He is traditionally one of the major five deities in the Smarta tradition, Smarta tradition, all of whom are considered as equivalent deities in the Panchaya ...

The Sun Temple

The Sun Temple was built in the 13th century and designed as a gigantic chariot of the Sun God, Surya, with twelve pairs of ornamented wheels pulled by seven horses. Some of the wheels are 3 metres wide. Only six of the seven horse still stand today. The temple fell into disuse after an envoy of

Jahangir Nur-ud-din Muhammad Salim (31 August 1569 – 28 October 1627), known by his imperial name Jahangir (; ), was List of emperors of the Mughal Empire, Emperor of Hindustan from 1605 until his death in 1627, and the fourth Mughal emperors, Mughal ...

desecrated the temple in the early 17th century. According to folklore, there was a diamond in the centre of the idol which reflected the sun rays that passed. In 1627, the then Raja of Khurda took the Sun idol from Konark to the Jagannath temple in Puri. The Sun temple belongs to the Kalingan school of Indian temple architecture. The alignment of the Sun Temple is along the east–west direction. The inner sanctum or ''vimana'' used to be surmounted by a tower or ''shikara'' but it was razed in the 19th century. The audience hall or ''jagamohana'' still stands and comprises majority of the ruins. The roof of the dance hall or ''natmandir'' has fallen off. It stands at the eastern end of the ruins on a raised platform.

History

In 1559, Mukunda Gajapati came to throne in

Cuttack Cuttack (, or officially Kataka in Odia language, Odia ), is the former capital, deputy capital and the 2nd largest city of the Indian state of Odisha. It is also the headquarters of the Cuttack district. The name of the city is an anglicised f ...

. He aligned himself as an ally of

Akbar Akbar (Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar, – ), popularly known as Akbar the Great, was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Humayun, under a regent, Bairam Khan, who helped the young emperor expa ...

and an enemy of the Sultan of Bengal, Sulaiman Khan Karrani. After a few battles, Odisha finally fell. The fall was also aided by the internal turmoil of the state. In 1568, the Konark temple was damaged by the army of Kalapahad, a general of the Sultan. Kalapahad is also said to be responsible for damages to several other temples during the conquest.

Demographics

As of 2011 India

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

, Konark had a population of 16,779. Males constitute 8,654 (52%) of the population and females 8,125 (48%).As of 2001 Census Konark has an average literacy rate of 57%, lower than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 64%, and female literacy is 49%. In Konark, 14% of the population is under 6 years of age.

Tourism

Attractions in Konark

* Konark temple: listed as one of the World Heritage Sites by UNESCO, the temples of Konark are the main attractions, providing a glimpse into the finest achievement of a lost masonry style. *

Chandrabhaga beach Chandrabhaga Beach is situated three km east of the Sun temple of Konark, in the Puri district in the state of Odisha, India. It is 30 km from the city of Puri. Formerly Chandrabhaga was considered a place of natural cure for lepers. ...

: one of the cleanest and most beautiful beaches in Odisha, it is the place of action for a lot of the legends behind Konark. * Sun Temple Museum: run by the

, the museum houses many of the artefacts from the temple.

Reaching Konark

Konark can be reached via a number of routes: # Reach

either by Flight or Train, and then take a bus or a taxi to Konark (64 km from Bhubaneswar). # Reach

Puri Puri, also known as Jagannath Puri, () is a coastal city and a Nagar Palika, municipality in the state of Odisha in eastern India. It is the district headquarters of Puri district and is situated on the Bay of Bengal, south of the state ca ...

by Train (Puri is well-connected to the rest of India), and then take a bus or a taxi to Konark (34 km from Puri).

Photo gallery

File:Plan-temple-konarak.png, Original structure. Existing structure is in the dark. File:Sun temple - 12.jpg, Image of Lord Surya, riding a horse File:Konark3.jpg, Temple Arts File:Konark4.jpg, Temple Arts File:Konark5.jpg, Temple Arts File:Konark6.jpg, Temple Arts File:Konark7.jpg, Temple Arts Konark Temple at Night

Notes and references

External links

Konark, World Heritage Site, UNESCO

Konark (Official Site), Tourism Department, Government of Odisha

Konark Sun Temple - Heritage Tours Odisha (Recognised by Odisha Tourism & Ministry of Tourism Government of India)
* . {{Authority control Tourism in Odisha Cities and towns in Puri district Hindu holy cities Hindu pilgrimage sites in India Puri district