Padma Vibhushan Raghunath Mohapatra to built second SunTemple
The acclaimed sculptor Padma Vibhushan Raghunath Mohapatra has decided to build his dream structure on his own strength, as there were no positive signals coming from any government agencies to his repeated requests for construction of the second Sun Temple in Odisha.
The renowned sculptor Padma Vibhushan Raghunath Mohapatra is almost ready with the diagram of the project.Not only that, he has, in fact, built a miniature of the proposed structure at his craft village here on the outskirts of the city.The project of the second Konark will be executed with an estimated cost of 600 crore INR.
The temple will be named as Aditya Nararayan Mandir & to be built in an area of 100 acres alongside the Puri-Bhubaneswar national highway.
The new Sunt Temple will be completed within a period of eight years.The main temple will have Sun God & also will have other structures like Ambika temple, Ganesh temple, Lord Shiva temple and Narayan temple around it.
The main entrance of Aditya Narayan Temple will be of 200-feet and 100-feet-high, respectively, and have identical sculptural carvings that decorate the Sun Temple at Konark.The stones for the temple will be sourced from Lalitgiri, Udayagir and Ratnagiri in Jajpur district and some parts of Khurda district.
At Konark, the visitors now see only a portion of the Sun Temple that was built in the 13th century by Ganga King Narasingha Dev I. The main structure has got destroyed due to some unspecific reasons. Though there is no historical evidence about the cause of the collapse of the main temple, some researchers claim that it might have been razed to the ground by “ invaders” in the 15th century.
The Sun Temple at Konark is considered as one of the Seven Wonders of the country, Konark stands testimony to Utkaliya (Odishan) form of stone art.
