THE KONARK DIALOGUE

Author’s Note:

This storybook is a comparative tale about a new fictional character and an existing mythical character. Both are young boys. The new character dreams of becoming an architect. He is inspired by and fantasizes about the ancient Sun Temple at Konark. The mythical boy is based on an existing legend of a young boy who saves the lives of the Konark temple builders by designing a solution to mount the temple’s highest capstone. The purpose of this story is to act as an introduction to basic nomenclature of the traditional Indian temple as well as the function of the temple’s spaces and how they are defined. The existing legend is expressed as an adaptation to the original story passed down to the new boy from his uncle just as the story has been passed orally since the temple’s early history. The existing legend is told through the new tale to give both present and historical context to the temple at large.

In addition to using this story as a means of identifying and defining an Indian temple’s architectural components, it is also my intent to express the fundamental exploratory nature of architectural theory and to illustrate how it may apply to understanding mythical axioms.

The storybook begins with an introduction to our contemporary character, Deepak, as the reader learns about the boy's love of temple architecture and his relationship with his uncle. Each page is a separate act that builds into a continuous story. If you find yourself interested in reading my storybook, I hope you enjoy it!

Bibliography:

Stories about the Konark Temple

The Story of The Deities and The Temples in Southern Indian Peninsula, Trilochan Dash