The Sun Temple

Day two in Puri started with our maid checking what we would like for breakfast. Eggs and toast please with tea for Randy. What should we do today? So we headed out to the beach. Then we decided we should visit the sites recommended by Tanmaya. So we jumped in a rickshaw and asked the driver to take us to Konark, the home of the Sun Temple. First stop the gas station, where he filled up for 100 rupees, or $2.00. It was 40kms to Konark so sit back and enjoy! Then our driver made an unscheduled stop at a small temple along the side of the road. As best as he could, he explained the statues and introduced us to the priest. How cool! 15km more to Konark. At the entrance our driver drops us off and sends us in the direction of the entrance. Before we can even make it to the gate we have found ourselves an English speaking guide, or maybe he found us but either way he worked out great! We learned so much and the detail of the carvings is unbelievable! More spectacular than any ruins I have seen in my travels. Built by 1200 people in 12 years! The temple is renown as one of the seven wonders of India and is a World Heritage site. Rather than try and describe it in my own words I have copied from the net to get as good a description as possible. The Sun Temple, built in the thirteenth century, was conceived as a gigantic chariot of the Sun God, with twelve pairs of exquisitely ornamented wheels pulled by seven horses. Majestic in conception, this temple is one of the most sublime monuments of India, famous as much for its imposing dimensions and faultless proportions as for the harmonious integration of architectural grandeur with plastic allegiance. Every inch of the temple is covered with sculpture of an unsurpassed beauty and grace, in tableaux and freestanding pieces ranging from the monumental to the miniature. The subject matter is fascinating. Thousands of images include deities, celestial and human musicians, dancers, lovers, and myriad scenes of courtly life, ranging from hunts and military battles to the pleasures of courtly relaxation. These are interspersed with birds, animals (close to two thousand charming and lively elephants march around the base of the main temple alone), mythological creatures, and a wealth of intricate botanical and geometrical decorative designs. The famous jewel-like quality of Orissan art is evident throughout, as is a very human perspective which makes the sculpture extremely accessible.The temple is famous for its erotic sculptures, which can be found primarily on the second level of the porch structure. It will become immediately apparent upon viewing them that the frank nature of their content is combined with an overwhelming tenderness and lyrical movement. This same kindly and indulgent view of life extends to almost all the other sculptures at Konark, where the thousands of human, animal, and divine personages are shown engaged in the full range of the 'carnival of life' with an overwhelming sense of appealing realism. It is admittedly the best in Orissa. Its fine traceries and scrollwork, as well as the beautiful and natural cut of animal and human figures, give it a superiority over other temples. The guide demonstrated how the wheels act as a sun dial. Pointed out the erotic sculptures, man with one woman, man with many women, woman with many men and more. The detail is amazing and thank goodness for our guide. Wondering around on our own we would have missed the true beauty and a good undstanding of what we were seeing. A good tip went his way. It was an extremely hot day out and at the end of our visit to the temple we were soaked and extremely thirsty. Searching for a refreshment stand we stopped and got a Popsicle for me and a cucumber for Randy. Trays of cucumbers peeled and sliced in four were sold as a treat and as they a one of Randy's favorite foods he had to have one and I can tell you on this hot day the Popsicle felt like the best one I have ever had.We then headed back to Puri, where we would ask our drivers to take us to The Jagannath Temple. Driving through what appears to be a back alley, but truly was a street leading to the temple our driver stops and tells us to walk down the road about five minutes to the temple, he will wait here. So blindly we get out and start walking. Eventually we see the temple at the end of the road so know we are at least going in the right direction. Standing at the entrance a man quickly falls in beside us and says that we can't go in but to follow him and he will show us around. So we do. As he walks us around the outside of the temple he explains what we are seeing and some history of the temple. We learn that it is the fourth largest temple in all of India and that 30,000 people a day come to the temple. The man then leads us into a monastery thru small hallways and up several flights of stairs. I am starting to get a bit worried about where we are going and that on blind faith are following this man to some unknown location. Minutes later we are on the roof of the monastery, getting an amazing view of the temple. Since we can't go in this is the best site to capture the magnificence of the temple. It is here we also learn our guide is a priest and I had been worrying where he was taking us. The temple is an important pilgrimage destination for many Hindu traditions, particularly worshippers of Krishna and Vishnu, and part of the Char Dham pilgrimages that a Hindu is expected to make in one's lifetime. The huge temple complex covers an area of over 400,000 square feet (37,000 m2), and is surrounded by a high fortified wall.The priest walked us around the entire complex and then you guessed it wanted a tip which we were prepared to pay and another tip for the monastery.lol.. 1000 rupees($20) later we were heading back down the alley in hope of finding our driver. There he was right were we left him waiting patiently for us. Time to head back to our hotel. We paid our driver and gave him a 700 rupees tip and then he insisted we get back in the rickshaw. He wanted to show us something else. No idea where we are going we jumped back in and the driver headed off. We found ourselves at an amazing complex "Shree Gour Bihar Ashran Hermitage" a Krishna temple and compound filled with statues of the different gods. It was almost like going to a Disneyland display, totally impressive and we would never have known about except for the desire of our driver to show us more in appreciation of the tip. It had been an amazing day, thanks to our amazing driver, turned guide and all the wonderful people we met throughout the day. Time to head back to the hotel and think about supper...