As stated already, the temple of Konark is not an isolated monument standing on its own peculiarities. Gorgeously conceived as a colossal chariot (pls. IV and V) drawn on twelve pairs of exquisite wheels by a team of seven richly-caparisoned horses in spirited gallops and symbolizing the Sun-god himself as if emerging from the depth of the blue expanse, the temple, of epic imagination and vastness, is the supreme realization, through ceaseless architectural experiments, of the creative upsurge that fired the architects of Orissa since the seventh century AD . It marked the peak of efflorescence of the entire Orissan architectural movement and was also the brightest flicker of a dying lamp.
The lavishly-ornamented wheels (pl. VI) are carved against the sides of a high platform, on which the sanctuary and its attached front porch are built, and also on the two sides of the east staircase that gives access to the top of the platform immediately in front of the main entrance of the porch. The rearing horses are sculptured against the sides of this staircase, but they are in the van. The resemblance to a chariot ends with the wheels and horses. Also Visit - Bhubaneswar Konark Puri Tour
The rest of the edifice is a typical Orissan temple consisting of a deul (sanctuary) and a jagamohana (porch) with all the component parts fully evolved, but all built on a titanic scale.
The sanctuary proper is a rekha deul (also called bada deul, 'the big temple') characterized by a curvi-linear tower (fig. 1), while the frontal porch (mukhaicilii), called jagamohana or bhadra deul, where the devotees assemble, is a piclhei deul, the roof of which is made of pidhas or horizontal stages (fig. 2). Built on a common platform, both the structures are square internally. But the exterior is variegated into a paiicha-ratha plan by projections known in Orissan gilpa-iiistras as rathas or pagas, which afford an effective interplay of light and shade. Also Visit - Best of Orissa Tour
The central projection, which is the most pronounced, is called riihez, while the next two, both on one plane but projecting forward beyond the extreme ends, called kanika or kanikapaga, are known as anuratha. These projections are carried up to the base of the crowning elements. Besides these major projections, there are numerous inconspicuous offsets and recesses.
Both the sanctuary and the porch are divided into four broad parts along the vertical plane, namely pishta (platform), bada (vertical wall), gadi (`trunk of a body' ; the curvilinear tower in the case of a rekha deul and the pyramidal roof in the case of a piclhadeul) and mastaka Chead'; crowning elements). While the mastaka is circular in cross-section, the bada and gandi are square internally in horizontal sections. Three of the four divisions again are composed of several elements.' All these components are in perfect symphony with one another and combine harmoniously in a masterly architectural conception as a whole. Some of these elements are named after human limbs. It has been suggested on the basis of these terms that the temple was likened to the human body. The rekha deual has sometimes been conceived by the Orissan architects as a male temple and the pidhia jagamohana as a female.
Up to the top of the bada there is hardly any difference between the sanctuary and the porch except the matter of relative proportions, but with the gandi they assume their individuality. Both the Was. are thus composed of five components, namely, pabhaga (foot) consisting of a set of five broad mouldings at the base, tala jcingha ( `lower shin'), bandhana ( `bond' ; a set of mouldings which divides jangha into two, tala and upara), upara jangha (`upper shin') and varatyla, again a set of mouldings, numbering ten in the porch. Also Visit - East India Golden Triangle Tour
The roof of the porch is in the form of a stepped pyramid truncated near the top and is made up of pidhas, arranged into three tiers, called potalas, separated from one another by a recessed vertical wall called kanthi or Kanti. Over the roof is the mastaka, which is a succession of a beki or beka ('neck'), sri (ribbed bell-shaped member) or ghanga, amla-beki, amid (gadrooned or fluted oblate spheroid resembling an amalaka fruit), khapuri (cskull'; flattish bell-shaped member), kalaia (`water-pot') and ayudha (sacred weapon or emblem), the last two now missing. The crowning elements are arranged effectively in such a way that they complete the shape of the truncated pyramid.
The entire gandi along with a large part of the biida of the sanctuary caved in long ago. As the extant portions conform to the corresponding parts of the contemporary temples of Yamegvara and Ananta-Vasudeva of Bhubaneswar, it may be presumed that the varanda had ten mouldings, the kanika of the gatyii was subdivided into ten bhumis (planes or storeys), demarcated by bhumi-amlas , the anuratha had miniature representations of a rekha deul in vertical succession, the rad had an interlacing of chaitya-window motif besides projecting lions or lions-on-elephants (p. 75) and the crowning elements consisted of a succession of a beki, amid, khapuri, kalaia and dhvaja.
In front of the eastern staircase of the porch, but separated by an open space where the dhvaja-stambha (p. 88) had originally stood, is a pillared structure (pl. XXII), the bhoga-manclapa (p. 89). Thus, the general layout of the complex is similar to that of the Yam6vara temple of Bhubaneswar. As in the latter, the porches in front of the images of pariva-devalas (pp. 76-78), who occupy the niches of the central projections of the sanctuary, are parts of one unified scheme and are not later additions like those of the Lingaraja temple at Bhubaneswar.
The sanctum is now open to the sky. To presume from other Orissan temples, there were several mudas (ceilings) tying the four walls at regular intervals. The blind chamber over the bottom ceiling (garbha-muda) was accessible by roughly-cut steps provided over the ceiling of the passage leading to the sanctum. The mudas, which presumably rested on corbels, were rein-forced by gigantic iron beams, oblong in section. These beams were made of a number of iron rods heated and welded together, the surface being beaten smooth. Also VIsit - Orissa Travel Package
Three kinds of stones were used in the structures. While the use of chlorite was limited to the door-frame and a few sculptures, laterite was used in the invisible core of the platform and staircases besides-the foundation. The rest was built of a poor quality of khondalite. The selection of this easily-weathered garnetiferous telepathic gneiss proved fatal to the monument. In many places the constituent feldspar has been altered to kaolinic and serpentinuous material and the garnet has been decomposed to a spongy mass of oxide. None of these three kinds of stones are available in the vicnity. No doubt, it was a Herculean feat to transport the colossal quantity of heavy stones from a distance of many kilometers and to lift and set in position the prodigious blocks at a height of nearly 61 m in an age not favored with modern mechanical inventions. Evidently, the stones were transported by rafts along distributaries in this part of the delta. The Chandra-bhaga, now dried up, possibly served as the last artery of transport. The method of carrying stones at the work-spot is illustrated on a panel fixed on the temple of Siddha-Mahavira near Puri. Here the laborers are seen carrying poles, from which stones are suspended by means of ropes, along a wooden ramp supported on posts. The dependence was, thus, principally on human labor; yet, the possibility of the use of simple contrivances like pulleys, wooden wheels or rollers for lifting the heavy stones to heights cannot be entirely ruled out.
The masonry is ashlar. The facing stones were ere smoothly finished and fitted together so finely that the joints are hardly visible. The stones were laid dry horizontally one upon another and kept in evenly and Position by their weight and balance, aided by iron cramps and dowels. The inner filling was not in the least neglected. Though mortar was not used in the joints, a plaster of lime and sand was applied to the body to a large extent.
From some unfinished carvings it is clear that the designs were carved in situ only after the stones had been fixed in position.
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