{"id":6318,"date":"2020-02-15T16:41:36","date_gmt":"2020-02-15T11:11:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/?p=6318"},"modified":"2020-02-15T16:41:36","modified_gmt":"2020-02-15T11:11:36","slug":"konark-sun-temple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/konark-sun-temple\/","title":{"rendered":"Konark Sun Temple"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Relevance: Prelims\/Mains: G.S paper I: Indian Art and Architecture\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/konark.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-6319\" src=\"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/konark.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"304\" height=\"166\" srcset=\"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/konark.jpg 304w, https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/konark-150x82.jpg 150w, https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/konark-300x164.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 304px) 100vw, 304px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Why in news?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A plan to restore and preserve the nearly 800-year-old Konark Sun Temple in Odisha would be drawn up soon, after a two-day conference of experts at the end of the month.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>UNESCO site:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The 13th Century temple, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, had been filled with sand and sealed by the British authorities in 1903 in order to stabilise the structure.<\/li>\n<li>A scientific study was carried out by the Roorkee-based Central Building Research Institute from 2013 till 2018 to ascertain the temple\u2019s structural stability as well as the status of the filled-in sand.<\/li>\n<li>The official said the study found that the sand filled in over 100 years ago had settled, leading to a gap of about 17 feet. The official, however, added that the structure was found to be stable.<\/li>\n<li>The ASI was in the process of removing the scaffolding erected.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Dedicated to the Hindu Sun God Surya, what remains of the temple complex has the appearance of a 100-foot (30 m) high chariot with immense wheels and horses, all carved from stone.<\/p>\n<p>Once over 200 feet (61 m) high, much of the temple is now in ruins, in particular the large shikara tower over the sanctuary; at one time this rose much higher than the mandapa that remains.<\/p>\n<p>The structures and elements that have survived are famed for their intricate artwork, iconography, and themes, including erotic kama and mithuna scenes. Also called the Surya Devalaya, it is a classic illustration of the <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Odisha style of Architecture or Kalinga Architecture.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The cause of the destruction of the Konark temple is unclear and remains a source of controversy.<\/p>\n<p>Theories range from natural damage to deliberate destruction of the temple in the course of being sacked several times by Muslim armies between the 15th and 17th centuries.<\/p>\n<p>This temple was called the <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>&#8220;Black Pagoda&#8221;<\/strong><\/span> in European sailor accounts as early as 1676 because its great tower appeared black.<\/p>\n<p>Similarly, the Jagannath Temple in Puri was called the &#8220;White Pagoda&#8221;. Both temples served as important landmarks for sailors in the Bay of Bengal.<\/p>\n<p>The temple that exists today was partially restored by the conservation efforts of British India-era archaeological teams. Declared a UNESCO world heritage site in 1984, it remains a major pilgrimage site for Hindus, who gather here every year for the <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><strong>Chandrabhaga Mela<\/strong> <\/span>around the month of February<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Relevance: Prelims\/Mains: G.S paper I: Indian Art and Architecture\u00a0 Why in news? A plan to restore and preserve the nearly<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3581,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[123,7],"tags":[392],"class_list":["post-6318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current-affairs","category-general-studies-i","tag-union-public-service-commission-upsc"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6318"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6318\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6320,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6318\/revisions\/6320"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/triumphias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}