Konark – Before Porn Was Born

“Let’s take a stroll around my temple. Ooh, look at what those carved figures are doing! Do you like it, sweetheart? Would you like to try it?”

Whatever pick-up line teenage King Narasimhadeva used on his ladies, it must have been quite a scandalous one for the 13^th century. Because the walls of his temple are covered by hundreds of explicitly erotic sandstone carvings; threesomes, foursomes, sixty-nines, oral sex, voyeurism. It’s all there, displayed among more innocent images of warriors, landscapes, giraffes and other animals. His pubescent girlfriends must have either blushed and fled or simply shed their clothes, because even today, it’s difficult not to be affected by the sexy pictures.

Disguised as a house of worship to the sun god Surya, the Konark Sun Temple was constructed in the form of a horse-drawn chariot with twenty-four massive wheels, ready to fly into the heavens. It has three images of the sun god, which are in turn lit up by the sun’s rays at sunrise, noon, and sunset.

An old legend says it was Samba, the son of Krishna, who built the original temple thousands of years ago. His father had cursed him with leprosy after he was caught sneaking a peek at his naked step-mothers. Only after years of penance and prayers to Surya was he finally cured of the debilitating disease. Samba thanked the sun god by honoring him with this sanctuary.

The young King Narasimhadeva set out to rebuild the ancient temple to continue Samba’s mission. But we all know that was just a fib. It is well known that building temples to the sun god was in fashion during those days. Besides, what else could an adolescent say to receive approval to get his pornographic fantasies materialized?

But the Konark Sun Temple is so much more than just filthy pictures. It is an extraordinary piece of art, intricately carved, very-well preserved and one of the most celebrated temples in India.

So in the end, does it really matter when it was built and by whom? As long as we agree why.