Temple Astronomy-3

Temple Astronomy 3

This part is a continuation of the Temple Astronomy series. Temple Astronomy 1 Temple Astronomy 2 

Legends get associated with the subject in the form of folk tales, folk songs and folk plays when the phenomena or the acts go beyond the intellect of the common people. Though legends do not receive any importance from the historians, scholars and researchers, however, “Every story has a core of truth”, which needs investigation

Introduction

In earlier parts, we examined how temple architecture in India sometimes reflects astronomical knowledge—either through symbolic cosmology or measurable solar alignment.

In this section, we analyse two iconic structures:

• Konark Sun Temple
• Vidyāśhaṅkara temple in Śṛṅgerī, Karnatak

 A lot of research has been done, and much more is still required to confirm the perceived peculiarities, astronomical or otherwise. The goal is to distinguish verifiable astronomical alignment from interpretive Medieval and historical claims.

Konark Sun Temple
 

The temple is located on the eastern coast of India, about 35 Km NE of Puri in Odisha. The temple’s construction was initiated by the king, Narasimhadeva I, known as Langula Narasimhadeva, during the Eastern Ganga dynasty in the mid-13^th century. The temple was sanctified on माघ शुक्ल सप्तमी, also called as रथसप्तमी, on 27 Jan 1258 CE.

It was named “Konark” Kone= corner or angle, Ark= Sun (कोण + अर्क = कोणार्क).

The present temple, built by Narsimhadeva, is not the first Sun temple; in fact, it is the 4^th to be built on the same site. The Plan of the Temple Site

 Symbolism and Astronomical Peculiarities

The temple is an architectural marvel. The temple was designed in the form of a chariot mounted on 24 wheels and drawn by 7 horses. Major portions of the temple are in ruins, and hence, the chariot and horses cannot be visualised.

The Golden Ratio: The proportions of the temple, including the relationship between the wheels' diameter, spoke length, and hub size, closely follow the golden ratio (1.618), with recent analysis showing an accuracy of 99.7

The team of horses, 12 Wheels, has varying interpretations regarding its symbolism.

 The wheels act like vertical sundials. A shadow cast by a stick held horizontally at the centre of the wheel shows the time of the day. The 8 spokes denote 8 Prahar, for units of time, see  Vedic Period 3

 How time is calculated from the wheel is explained in Figure 1. 

Figure 1

The shadow cast by the stick held horizontally at the centre of the hub shows a time

The temple is oriented Eastwards and receives the sun's rays at sunrise. See images below

The idol receives the rising sun rays, 15 +/- days of equinox, on other days, the Sun’s rays do not fall on the Sun deity, but at the entrance, as shown in the figure

Google Earth image. Red line is oriented 090-270 degrees

Three Sun idols are facing East, South and West, depicting rising, midday and setting sun. The sun’s rays illuminate them as per the time of the day, see fig 2

 

Actual Photo taken by me, along with a compass shot of the main temple. Orientation is 090-270 degrees

Trivia - Konark Temple

Konark temple is a World Heritage monument, as designated by UNESCO in 1984.

Konark is shrouded with Myths and facts. A lot of research is being done to unravel the mystery of Konark; most of this work is available online.

While the Konark Sun Temple is the most famous, the main deity is no longer present in the sanctum to witness this phenomenon.

There is neither a magnet on top of the temple nor is the Sun idol floating, as the legend says. Idol floating may be an optical illusion

Konark temple is not of Buddhist origin, as is assumed by some

Two ruined temples on the southwest corner are old Sun temples of the 9^th century

More research through  GPR is required to unravel some myths.

Vidyāśhaṅkara Temple in Śṛṅgerī

 

The Vidyashankara Temple was built around 1338 CE  in a small town, Sringeri, originally called Rushyashringagiri. The temple is an architectural amalgamation of Hoysala and Dravidian styles. The temple is dedicated to lord Shiva, though there are idols of Vishnu and other deities.

The plan is an elliptical shape formed by the apparent union of two opposed apsidal parts, which meet at open ends and the curves on the eastern and western ends. The eastern apse has the Navranga

 Red dots are pillars. Gate orientation is in Blue

Astronomical Peculiarities

The temple is aligned in the East-West direction

The main interest of this navaranga is its unique astronomical aspects concerning the 12 राशी स्तंभ, distinctive zodiacal pillars. See image above.

 Each pillar has the image of the sign of the Zodiac Rashi

A paper written by Dr MH Krishna, Director of Archaeology of Mysore State, in 1936 claimed that the corresponding राशी स्तंभ in the temple was illuminated by the rising sun through the zodiac sign through which the Sun was transiting.

A remarkable feat of architecture, albeit an incorrect observation.

 Dr BS Shaylaja^8, N Kameshwara Rao⁷ and Priya Thakur^7, in their research papers, give out the findings of their actual observations, which contradict the claims of Dr MH Krishna.

Similar research has been carried out by other scholars also. Their results have the same conclusion. 

Their findings have been confirmed by other researchers.

Direction of rising sun beams for various dates as observed by Dr BS Shaylaja. The beam illuminates the correct pillar only for the Winter Solstice. For the rest of the pillars, there is a mismatch 

 

 

 

Intrapolating this 60⁰  shift backwards along the ecliptic, NK Rao and Priya Thakur opine that the temple illustrates a calendrical arrangement similar to the epoch around 2000 BCE.

Trivia -Vidyāśhaṅkara Temple

The temple was built by Sage Vidyarana, who was himself an astronomer

Sunlight enters the east-facing main entrance, but it cannot enter the corners. A narrow beam of rising sun enters through the  Northern and Southern doors only on days of the Solstice. See diagram above.

Dr Shylaja observed that the Rashi’s match only for the Winter Solstice and only two राशीस्तंभ are aligned in the direction of the rising sun during the two  Solstices. Her claims have been verified by various researchers.

As of today, the Sun is not illuminating the corresponding राशी स्तंभ that it is currently transiting. This displacement of approximately  60⁰   is attributed to the axial precession of the Earth, which has caused a shift in the Sun's position in relation to these astrological columns.

 NK Rao and Priya Thakur Show that on September 21, sunlight hit the Scorpio pillar, but the Sun was actually in Virgo. This represents an angular difference of approximately 60°.

Beam of morning sunlight near the Scorpio Pillar

The morning sunlight moves systematically from the Leo pillar to the Aquarius pillar (tracing the Sun's path from north to south) and then retraces its path.

Some pillars are illuminated through narrow beams passing through small holes.

Mysteries

Why was the temple design of the राशी स्तंभ aligned to the epoch of 2000 BCE and not 14^th CE?

Was the design deliberate or a mistake? Or was it made to commemorate an earlier event?

Since it was designed by an astronomer, it was likely intended to depict some Vedic rituals or the effects of precession.

 

 Videos explaining the blog content. Click Konark and Vidya Shankar Temple.

 .... next part follows

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References

1. A Study of Ancient Indian Astronomy through Architectural Marvels KKP Shirodkar https://doi.org/10.58482/ijeresm.v3i2.2

2. Myths, Facts and Controversies Associated with the Sun Temple of Konark by Sudhansu Shekhar Rath

3. Astronomical Heritage: The Sun Temple Konark, by Dr Mayarani Praharaj

4. Bahinipati S, Ranjan Biswal D and Suar D. The Konark Temple’s Construction: A Critical Review of the Historical, Cultural, and Scientific Evidence [version 2; peer review: 1 approved, 1 approved with reservations] F1000Research 2025, 13:1540 https://doi.org/10.12688/f1000research.157831.2

5. Basic Unit of time measurement in ancient India.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/348501311_Aksara_the_Basic_Unit_of_Time_Measure_in_Ancient_India

6. www.thekonark.in

7. Aspects of Observational Astronomy in India. Vidya Shankar Temple at Sringeri by N Kameshwara Rao and Priya Thakur https://adsabs.harvard.edu/pdf/2011JAHH...14..136R

8. Astronomical Aspects Associated with Temples, by Dr BS Shylaja