The Surya Icon

The linen manuscript stretched out across the floor of the shrine. The monkey crouched at one end of the drawing with three paws holding the curling edge to the floor. Deepak mirrored his new companion on the opposite side. His finger followed the black lines and text. The label Amalaka denoted the capstone that stood at the top of the temple's highest tower. The tall tower was annotated with the name Shikhara. The Amalaka detail was an amalgamation of heavy charcoal lines forming a cross-cut section of the temple’s tower form and thinner ink leader lines pointing the Sanskrit text to various parts of the drawing. Within the diagram was a large dark oval that consumed the inside of the amalaka body. Deepak read the label next to the dark shape.

"Kaaaan taaaan ya sa" The boy stretched each syllable out carefully.

“Kāntāyasa," he repeated quicker. "That is a lodestone made of magnetite,” Deepak told the monkey with a matter-of-fact confidence. “Does this mean the legend is true?”

Continuing his scan down the drawing, Deepak saw Sanskrit labels point to various other forms. Once again kāntāyasa pointed to an oval placed below the lingam. In between the lingam and the amalaka, in the garbha griya void was the title “daivata.”

“Idol,” Deepak translated slowly to the monkey as he gradually began to understand the plans drawn before him. “This is showing us the mechanics of the fabled levitating idol of Surya!”

The Gray Langur replied with a happy squeal.

“My uncle once told me a story of how the temple supposedly displayed a large floating idol of the sun god that was suspended by the polar attraction of a lodestone,” Deepak explained. “He also described the legend of Portuguese sailors who helped destroy the temple because the lodestone was to blame for many shipwrecks. Sailors, lost in the morning fog, were drawn off course by a compass attracted to the temple lodestone.”

The monkey sighed and bowed its head.

Deepak looked up toward the temple tower rising into the low clouds. The storm had calmed into a gentle shower. His eyes followed the earthen ramp rising to the top of the cap-less stone peak. Listening through the stipple of light rain, Deepak thought he heard the yelling voice of a boy. Straining to hear better, he turned his ear toward the ramp. He noticed the Langur was alert and listening too.

“Sqauaackkktt,” screeched the monkey as it leapt forward out of the shrine.

With the Langur no longer holding the scroll end down, it flung up in a loose curl into Deepak’s hands. The boy instinctively tucked it under his arm and ran into the rain after his companion.

“Wait up!”

As Deepak followed the bouncing animal into the tree line below the ramp, he saw a row of elephants moving out of the fog and up the long perpendicular slope above him. Ahead of the line of massive hanging tusks walked a boy directing the straining pachyderms with a long narrow stick. Both the monkey and Deepak froze in unison staring up at the scene developing out of the gray curtains of rain. Slowly the sound of men shouting and the sight of a large object in tow began to appear.

“It’s the amalaka!” Deepak exclaimed to the monkey!

The Hanuman Langur jumped up and down and shrieked back in response.

All but one of the elephants pulled the massive stone cap rolling on a conveyor of logs. As soon as a log rolled free behind the amalaka, a man on each side would guide it as the trailing elephant lifted it with strong tusks. Together, the men and the pachyderm moved the log upslope of the amalaka and put it back down so that the capstone could roll forward over it again. Progressively the cycle allowed the large stone to climb toward the top of the tower.

Led by intense curiosity, the boy and the Langur bounded up the side of the ramp. The short climb brought them between the elephant procession and the cap-less tower top. The rain had stopped completely and the clouds started to lift and thin. Turning in a slow circle, Deepak took in the landscape below him. He could see the crashing surf of the ocean coastline just beyond the trees. The beach was much closer to the temple than he was used to. Looking towards the boy guiding the line, Deepak waved. Beyond the boy and the elephant herd, he could see the earthen ramp extend for several kilometers into the forest beyond.

"Greetings," the boy called back. His voiced strained to cover the distance between them. "You have found my building plans! I thought they had been lost!"

Deepak and the Langur turned to each other in surprise.

At that moment, the clouds broke completely with a sudden squall rushing across the ramp slope. The rolled manuscript under Deepak’s arm caught the wind and was lofted into the air.

Deepak and the monkey leapt up simultaneously to catch the scroll now flying kite-like toward the open tower top. Both running in pursuit, the Langur bounced onto Deepak’s back. Using the boy’s shoulders as a spring board, the monkey flung himself up to grab the airborne manuscript.

Despite the action of the moment, Deepak realized everything was beginning to move in slow motion. The Langur’s launch from his shoulders had pushed him down in a forward stumble. As his gaze moved from the monkey and the manuscript down to the ground below him, he realized that he was at the edge of the tower opening. He had too much momentum. Deepak was falling into the stone tower below. Instinctively he rolled to face skyward and reach for something to hold. As he fell into the darkness of the tower interior, the sun rose into view. Shining directly down onto Deepak, the light filled the chamber around him. He felt consumed by its warm glow.

Deepak gradually realized he was no longer falling. The Langur and the manuscript had disappeared. The boy was lying, cradled in the arms of the Surya idol suspended freely in the space above the Garbh Griha. Deepak’s last blurry sight was of the amalaka slowly eclipsing the light of the sun above as it was pushed into place at the top of the temple.