A huge chlorite slab,20 feet (6
metres) long,four feet(1.2 metre) high and seven feet(2 metres) deep was used
as an architrave,above the main entrance to the Jagamohana.This is made into
nine different panels representing the figures of Navagraha(nine-planets) and
richly ornamented.
The architectural use of the
Navagrahas is according to the medieval convention,a kind of prophylatic
measure for the fafety of the temple and can be seen almost in every temples in
orissa.The lintel-slabs of all the earlier shrines of the Bhaumakara
period,there contain only the figures of eight grahas (planets).Ketu making his
appearence on the architraves from the Ganga period onwards.
In carving out the images,their
attributes are not correctly attended to.They are made mostly alike in
from,except a few in the group.Most of them are holding rosary and kamandalu in
their hands,wearing high pointed crowns and sitting on lotuses the descriptions
in the puranas symbolise as follows:
Surya(Sun) stands on a vechile of seven horses and holds two lotuses in
his both hands.
Chadra(Moon) rides on a swan and carries discs of moon in his left and
right hands.
Mangala(Mars) being the warlord,holds a kattara(cutter) in his right
hand and in the left,several human heads,in the act of devouring.His vechile is
a goat.
Budha(Mercury) Sits on a lotus and he is to hold in his two hands the
bow and arrow.
Vrihaspati(Jupiter) being the high prist of the Devatas(Gods),has a
flowing bread and holds a rosary and kamandalu in his hands,but he has to be
seated either on a frog or on a skull,instead of a lotus.
Sukra(Venus) is said to be the priest of the Ashuras(demons).Excepting
the blindness of one eye,his icon is more or less correctly shown.
Sani(Sturn) rides on a tortoise and holds a rod in his one hand,instead
of sitting on a lotus.
Rahu(Ascending Node) has only the upper half of the body.Two of his
canine teeth are projecting from his upper jaw,to represent him as a monster
and a fierce aspect of the Sun and Moon.He is found holding the Sun in one hand
and the Moon in the other.
Ketu(Descending Node) is the last one in the group.His upper part is
similar to others,but the lower is formed of the body of a serpent coiling
round.He is to hold the noose of the snake in one hand and with the other,a
sword.
The cruel hands of time did not
permit the slab to remain in its original position for long.Ultimately it fell
down and was lying uninjured in the debris for many years,when it was
discovered,the Asiatic Society of Bengal wanted to remove it to calcutta,for
exhibiting in the museum,as a rare specimen of sculptural decoration of
India.To facilitate its removal,the slab was longitudinally cut into two pieces
in the year 1893 A.D. But its heaviness even after cutting,and the sandy track
all around,it made impossible to do so.It was subsequently left at a distance
of about two furlongs from the temple site,Where it was lying for more than
sixty years,very recently the Government of India arranged for its installation
in a separate shed,close to the temple compound and now this is famous as the
Navagraha temple of Konark.
