Last year I got a great chance to visit Konark with my family. Konark is a small town of Puri district of Odisha. Our stay was arranged in Lotus resort. The resort was just 7 kms away from Konark Sun Temple. This is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The Sun temple is also known as the Black Pagoda of Orissa. It is due to this temple here the place got its name. The temple is located near the Chandrabhaga beach.
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Konark Sun Temple [/caption]
We visited this historical place during the Surya Puja festival. With the help of a guide we could know about the past history of the temple. This temple was built by Langula Narasingha. It took about twelve years to complete the temple construction.
From the guide we also got to know the tale that the prince Samba, the son of Lord Krishna, had been cured of his leprosy disease by praying before the Sun God here for great many years. It is said that following this the people of Odisha celebrated the festival of Samba Dasami in every winter season.
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Wheels of the Chariot[/caption]
The temple is in the form of a huge chariot with elaborately carved stone wheels, pillars and walls. The chariot of the Sun God here has twenty four wheels driven by seven horses. The wheel stands for peace and progress. The detailed artistic carvings in the temple and the designs of the lively horses were really amazing.
We also had a holy bath at the beach. The beach is located just 3 kms from the temple. The beautiful temple carvings spoke of the customs of Odisha people. It took more than 3 hours for us to explore the whole temple.
Now major part of the temple is not in a good condition due to the saline impact of the sea. The architectural beauty of the temple cannot be expressed in words. The trip was really memorable.