KONARK - Chariot of Sun God

KONARK - Chariot of Sun God

The Konarak Sun Temple is located in Konarak in the state of Orissa and is dedicated to the sun god Surya.It is considered one of the great temples of India and was constructed by Raja Narasimha of the Ganga Dynasty in the mid thirteenth century C.E.

Although over time it has decayed, the Indian government has worked to restore it as it is a UNESCO world heritage site and it is now popularly considered one of the seven wonders of India.

Located in the relatively small town of Konarak, the Konarak Sun Temple lies on the coast bordering the Bay of Bengal in the Indian state of Orissa.  Furthermore when the temple was constructed it was within the territory of the Ganga Dynasty, which was an area that contained many Sun Temples. It was also customary for Ganga rulers to place temples far away from their capitals. This is because the temples may have promoted ceremonies that were uncommon among the general populace, such as tantricism. The practice of tantracismwas popular among the sun cult who were very influential in the Sun Temples construction.

Dedicated to the sun god Surya, the temple is meant to represent the horses and the colossal chariot which belong to the sun god. Many aspects of the temple are meant to display various measures of time such as months, days and praharas (the eight time periods of a day). The main complex contains the twenty four great wheels of the chariot which are meant to signify either the twenty four hours of the day or the twenty four fortnights in a year. Each of the wheels is 2.971m in diameter and each contains eight spokes which represent the eight praharas in a day. At both the sides of the main gate there is a team of seven horses pulling the chariot. According to some traditions these horses represent the seven days of the week. Other sources state that the horses represent the seven colours of a sun ray and that sun rays must pass through seven layers (represents by the horses) before it can reach the earth. There are also three standing images of Surya which depict the rising, mid day and setting sun .

The temple grounds contain many more buildings such as an audience, dancing and dining hall. Almost every inch of the temple is covered in intricate carvings of deities, mythology and even depictions of courtly life. The temple is also known for containing erotic sculptures and images throughout, which may be likened to the Sun Cults involvement in its construction.

Built in the thirteenth century C.E., under the rule of Narasimha Deval, the Konarak Sun Temple is now believed to not only have religious significance but military significance as well. Under Narasimha’s rule several Muslim attempts at invading Orissa were defeated and Narasimha eventually went on to launch a successful offensive against Tughan Khan. After this string of victories the prestige and power of Orissa increased significantly and a campaign was underwent to create the greatest temple in India and a memorial. This is reflected in the temples construction as numerous war scenes are depicted, whichis unusual for Indian temples. Tradition says that the temples construction took twelve years and 1200 laborers working day and night. The temple was built almost entirely out of dark stone (chlorite, laterite and khondalite) with little iron, lime plaster or cement. This was due to the fact that stone is seen as everlasting and deteriorates very slowly and the architect’s intention was to create an everlasting temple .

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Sun Sign Libra - Famous People

Sun Sign Libra - Famous People

Using the tropical zodiac system people born between September 24th and October 23rd are known by their Sun Sign Libra the Scales and are associated with the constellation Libra. The Element of the Libra sign is Air and the color of Libra is Blue. The star stone of Libra is Sapphire and the astrological symbol for Libra represents the scales. The Sun Sign opposite of Libra is Aries the Ram and the metals of the Libra sign are steel gold and platinum. Libra is ruled by the Planet Venus and is defined as a masculine-positive extroverted sign.  Libra is the seventh sign of the zodiac and the quality of Libra is Cardinal. The characteristics most commonly attributed to Libra are cooperation and even temper and they are also well known for their diplomatic and financial sense. Generally speaking the people of the Libra sun sign are often charming and cooperative with a diplomatic outlook.

They are also fair and well balanced with an idealistic attitude. The Libra people work well in a group and can be kind and cheerful. Libras can also be gentle and peaceful with an easy and romantic nature. They can also be indecisive and easily changed. Libras appreciate good taste but can be frivolous and manipulative.

The following is a list of some famous celebrities of the Libra sun sign.
1. Scott Adams - June 8, 1957 - Cartoonist, creator of the Dilbert comic strips
2. Charles Atlas - October 30, 1892 - December 23, 1972 - Body builder and fitness program marketer
3. Brigitte Bardot -September 28, 1934 - French actress and fashion model
4. Niels Bohr - October 7, 1885 - November 18, 1962 - Danish physicist and Nobel Prize winner
5. Chevy Chase - October 8, 1943 -Emmy Award winning actor and original member of Saturday Night Live
6. Chubby Checker - October 3, 1941 - Rock and Roll singer best known for The Twist
7. Aleister Crowley - October 12, 1875 - December 1, 1947 - Occult mystic, writer of The Book of the Law
8. Dwight D. Eisenhower - October 14, 1890 - March 28, 1969 - Thirty-fourth President of the United States
9. Enrico Fermi - September 29, 1901 - November 28, 1954 - Won the Nobel Prize in Physics
10. Carrie Fisher - October 21, 1956 - Actress, best known as Princess Leia in Star Wars
11. Mahatma Gandhi - October 2, 1869 - January 30, 1948 - Political and spiritual leader of India.
12. Bob Geldof - October 5, 1951 - Member of the Boomtown Rats and Live Aid organizer
13. Bryant Gumbel -September 29, 1948 - Television news and sports personality on The Today Show
14. Sammy Hagar - October 13, 1947 - Musician, known as The Red Rocker
15. Jim Henson - September 24, 1936 - May 16, 1990 - Puppeteer and creator of The Muppets
16. Frank Herbert - October 8, 1920 - February 11,1986 - Science fiction writer, author of the Dune series
17. Charlton Heston - October 4, 1923 - Academy Award winning actor and president of the NRA
18. Charles Jayne - October 9, 1911 - December 31, 1985 - Founder of the Astrological Research Associates
19. Olivia Newton John - September 26, 1948 -Grammy Award winning singer and actress
20. Evel Knievel - October 17, 1938 - November 30, 2007 - Dare Devil who tried to jump Snake River Canyon
21. Heather Locklear - September 25, 1961 - Super model star of soap operas, movies and television
22. Bela Lugosi - October 20, 1882 - August 16, 1956 -Actor, best known as the Vampire Count Dracula
23. Groucho Marx - October 2, 1890 - August 19, 1977 - Best known as the host of You Bet Your Life
24. Friedrich Nietzsche - October 15, 1844 - August 25, 1900 - Influential German writer and philosopher
25. Alfred Nobel - October 21, 1833 - December 10,1896 - Inventor of dynamite and the Nobel Prizes
26. Juan Peron - October 8, 1895 - July 1, 1974 - Popular President of Argentina
27. Christopher Reeve -September 25, 1952 - October 10, 2004 - Actor, best known for his role as Superman
As you can see from this list if you were born under the Libra sun sign you are in good company.

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Sun Facts

Sun Facts

1. The Sun is one out of billions of stars.  The Sun is the closest star to Earth.  The Sun rotates once every 27 days.  The Sun is now a middle-aged star, meaning it is at about the middle of its life.  The Sun formed over four and a half billion years ago.  You may think the Sun will die soon, but it will keep shining for at least another five billion years.

2. The Sun’s surface is called the photosphere.  The temperature of the photosphere is about 10,000° Fahrenheit.  Its core is under its atmosphere. The temperature at the core, or very middle, of the Sun, is about 27 million° Fahrenheit.  That’s pretty hot!

3. The Sun’s diameter is about 870,000 miles wide.  The Sun is 109 times wider than Earth, and is 333,000 times heavier.  That means if you put the Sun on a scale, you would need 333,000 objects that weigh as much as the Earth on the other side to make it balance.

4. The Sun is only one of over 100 billion stars.  In ancient times, the people believed the Sun was a burning ball of fire created by the gods.  Later, people thought it was a solid object, or a liquid ball.  Over one million Earths could fit inside the Sun.   Looking directly at the Sun can permanently damage your eyes because it is so bright.  A star mostly gives off light and heat.  The larger the star, the hotter its temperature.  A supergiant star can get to be 400 times larger than our Sun, which is almost a million miles in diameter.  The Sun is tilted.

5. Without the Sun, Earth could not support life.  The Sun gives off heat and light that the Earth needs to support life (us).  If you lived on the Sun, and you built a spacecraft, it would have to go over 618.2 kilometers per second to escape the Sun’s gravitational pull.  The Sun is 695,000 kilometers at its equator.  The Sun is the largest mass in our Solar System.

6. Sun loops are large loops caused by the Sun’s magma (molten rock) shooting off of the Sun’s surface.  These loops can fly millions of miles into space.  Our Sun is approximately 25,000 light-years from the galactic core of our galaxy (the Milky Way).  It is like a really big star.  It is a million times bigger than the biggest.

7. Did you know that the Sun is made out of 92% hydrogen, 7% helium and the rest is other low number gasses? The Sun’s core is the hottest part of its matter.  It is 27 billion° Fahrenheit.  The Sun does not rise or set.  It just looks like it does because the Earth is moving.  The Earth orbits the Sun every 365 space days.  Can you believe that the Sun can burn over seven million tons of natural gas every second?  A star can live for over three billion years.  If the Sun was hollow, you could fit 333,000 Earths inside!  The Sun rotates, too.  It rotates every 25-36 days.  It seems as if stars always stay in the same position night after night, year after year, but they actually do move over time.  They helped scientists to develop a reference system for charting a planet’s movement.

8. The moon does not give off light of its own.  It is the Sun that gives light to the Moon.  The Moon reflects the Sun’s light. A star is the only body in space that emits its own light; everything else reflects light from the closest star.  Can you believe that it is over 4.24 light-years to the nearest star?  Did you know that about 65% of all “stars” are actually double stars?  They are stars that look like one, but when viewed through a telescope, they are actually two stars.  Stars vary in sizes.  They can be as small as 7,000 miles in diameters, or as large as 900 billion miles in diameter.  Some stars change in brightness over a period of time.  They do this when the star’s temperature dramatically drops.  These stars are called Variable Stars.

9. A star has many different characteristics, such as their position, motion, size, mass, chemical ingredients and temperature.  No two stars are exactly alike.  The number of stars in the known Universe exceeds one billion.

10. All the planets roughly orbit the Sun in a plane.This plane is roughly the same as the rotational equator of the Sun

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