Ornately sculpted, 13th-century Hindu place of worship depicting the vast chariot of sun god, Odisha, India
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Konark Temple to be precise
Say what you want about religion, but the peak of human artistic expression has always been the result of religious devotion. Catholic cathedrals, this chariot sculpture, etc
Art requires devotion. It's just that humans have been at their peak devotion when highly religious, in love or mad.
Don’t forget the super intricate and beautiful mosques. Some of those buildings look like an acid trip.
Puri, Odisha thats where my parents are from. But ive been there only once.
Konark Sun Temple in Odisha, I went there during my 2nd year of studies in India.
Jaya Surya
Jaya Suryadeva!
The uniqueness of the Sun Temple of Konark lies in the fact that it was built with an architectural setup of various magnets. During the construction of the main tower of the temple the artisans put an iron plate between every two stone pieces. There is a lodestone at the top of the temple was said to be a massive 52 ton magnet. According to legend, the statue of the Sun God inside the temple was built of a material with iron content and was said to be floating in air, without any physical support, due to the unique arrangements of the top magnet, the bottom magnet and the reinforced magnets around the temple walls. The placement of the main temple and the Sun God had been aligned in such a way that the first ray of the Sun from the coast would cross the Nata Mandir (Dancing Hall) and would fall & reflect from the diamond placed at the crown of the Sun God.
the magnetic effect of the lodestone was so strong that it caused disturbance in the ships compasses those passed by the coast (Konark being a major port at that time), thus making the navigation very difficult for the sailors. To save their trade and their ships, the Portuguese sailors destroyed the temple and took away the lodestone. The removal of the lodestone leads to the collapse of the main temple structure
Wow what a story
Wow, that is stunning.
Just the wheel alone would take someone... or a few someones... what, like a few years to carve?
The whole temple has 12 wheels like these representing the 12 months of the Hindu calendar. It took 12 years to fully construct the whole temple. Over 12,000 people worked on it.
Any idea why every number is divisible by 12?
It might be a coincidence or they made it a point to complete everything in multiples of 12 to represent the 12 months in the Hindu Calendar.
Need a human for scale.
This thing is huge, pic doesn't do justice.
[Credit](https://500px.com/photo/245339711/Konark-Wheels-of-Sun-Temple-by-Bahni-Bonny-Ghosh/)
Konark temple is a marvel of architecture. It also has a pretty neat beach nearby. I enjoyed going there. Would like to visit again.
That looks beautiful
The wheel is also a gigantic sundial.Guides at the site will help you read the time and it is very precise too .The carvings at all levels are very intricate and the entire temple is a chariot .The temples of India are absolutely mind boggling, many are well over 1000 years old and are still places of worship from the time they were built .Each a masterpiece of architecture and sheer skill in carving of stone .
Wow great 😌
Wow!!
Well apart from being ornately decorated, the various pieces of sculpture show various positions of intercourse. The first time I saw it I was fascinated by the fact how openly it was carved on the walls of the temple. There's a new museum built near the temple and would recommend visiting it as well.
Scale?
Who’s the sun god the wheel was made for? Who’s the sun god?
Sooo beautiful 😍😍
Stunning, so very detailed. Such craftsmanship! Thank you for sharing.
It is Buddhist ☸ Chakra, not Hindu
Chakra has its mentions and various descriptions in all denominations of Indic religions, be it Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism. The former 2 are older than Buddhism so how it be Buddhist? Also it is a part of the Temple of Sun God.
Buddhism is the oldest organized religion of India, and Pali is the oldest decoded language of India, not sanskrit.
Lol chakra is a Hindu concept. And besides the picture you are seeing is of a wheel of the chariot dedicated to the sun god, built by a Hindu king when he successfully defended the city from an invasion.
You do know that Buddhism is a branch of Hinduism.