The Konark Sun Temple
The magnificent Sun Temple at Konark is the masterpiece in ancient architechture…
The Konark Sun temple in Odisha is a famous Indian temple dedicated to the sun god, Surya. The temple faces the east and it is built at such an incline that the first rays of sunlight hit the main entrance of the temple. But what is fascinating is that the 24 stone carved wheels of the Sun Temple are actually sundials which show time anti-clockwise.
This sundial at the temple, has 8 major spokes that divide 24 hours into 8 equal parts. This means that the time between two major spokes is 3 hours. There are also 8 minor spokes. Each minor spoke runs exactly in the middle of 2 major spokes. This means that the minor spoke divides the 3 hrs in half, so the time between a major spoke and a minor spoke is 90 minutes.
The edge of the wheel has several beads. There are 30 beads between a minor and a major spoke. So, the 90 minutes are further divided by 30 beads. This means that each bead carries a value of 3 minutes. The beads are large enough, so you can also tell if the shadow falls in the centre of the bead or on one of the ends of the bead. This way we can further calculate time accurately to the minute. The placing of the sundial in the monument shows the precision and co-ordination that must have taken place between the astronomers, engineers and the sculptors to create a structure like this one, 750 years ago!
Do you know?
The chariot of the Sun Temple at Konark contains twelve pairs of wheels, each twelve feet in diameter, representing the twelve months of the Hindu calendar. The eight spokes of the wheel represent the eight intervals of the day and the seven horses represent the days of the week.
– Dr Shobha Tawade
Team ScienceNow
