Which one among the following temples in India is referred to as the “Black Pagoda” ?

Correct — B, (b) Sun Temple, Konark.

The name is a sailor's name. European mariners working the Bay of Bengal used two great temples on the Odisha coast as landmarks, and distinguished them by colour: the Sun Temple at Konark, built of dark khondalite and laterite and standing near the shore, they called the Black Pagoda, and the Jagannath temple at Puri, lime-plastered and light in appearance, the White Pagoda. The names entered European charts and travel accounts and have stayed attached to the two buildings ever since. 'Pagoda' was the general European word for an Indian temple in that period, so the pair of names is descriptive rather than religious in origin.

The temple itself was built in the thirteenth century, about 1250 CE, by Narasimhadeva I of the Eastern Ganga dynasty, and it is dedicated to Surya, the sun god. Its conception is unique in Indian architecture: the whole structure is designed as the god's chariot, with twenty-four great stone wheels carved along the plinth and teams of horses straining at the front. The main tower has long since fallen, and what stands today is chiefly the jagamohana or assembly hall, together with the plinth, the wheels and the sculpture. It was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1984.

The item is a straightforward identification, and all four options are real temples of the first rank, which is what makes it worth being precise: the correct answer is not the most famous temple in the list, but the one to which the specific name belongs.

Why the others are wrong

• (a)Jagannath Temple, Puri — The Jagannath temple at Puri is the White Pagoda, not the Black - the other half of the same pair of sailors' names, and the reason this option is the natural trap. Its shikhara rises about sixty metres, it stands close to the shore some thirty-five kilometres from Konark, and it too served as a landmark for shipping. The temple belongs to the twelfth century, built under Anantavarman Chodaganga of the Eastern Ganga dynasty and completed under his successors, and it is the seat of the Rath Yatra. A candidate who remembers that a temple on the Odisha coast was called a pagoda by European sailors, without remembering which colour, has an even chance of losing the mark here.
• (c)Kamakhya Temple, Guwahati — The Kamakhya temple stands on the Nilachal hill in Guwahati, Assam, and is one of the most important Shakta shrines in the subcontinent, associated with the goddess Kamakhya and with the Ambubachi Mela. Its present structure dates chiefly from the sixteenth century, rebuilt under Koch patronage after earlier destruction. It is inland, on the Brahmaputra, hundreds of kilometres from any sea route, and could never have served as a landmark for shipping in the Bay of Bengal - which is the whole basis of the name in question.
• (d)Kandariya Mahadeva Temple, Khajuraho — The Kandariya Mahadeva temple at Khajuraho is the largest and most ornate of the western group of temples built by the Chandellas, dating to about 1030 CE and dedicated to Shiva. It is the standard example of the fully developed Nagara style, with its ascending cluster of subsidiary spires and its bands of sculpture. It lies in the heart of the Bundelkhand plateau in Madhya Pradesh, far from the coast, and its stone is a pale buff sandstone rather than dark. Neither its situation nor its appearance has anything to do with the name.

The two Odisha coastal temples are best learned as a pair, because the examiner's question is almost always which is which.

Konark, the Black Pagoda. Built about 1250 CE by Narasimhadeva I of the Eastern Ganga dynasty; dedicated to Surya; conceived as the sun god's chariot with twenty-four carved wheels and teams of horses; built largely of dark khondalite, laterite and chlorite. The main deul has collapsed and the surviving structure is chiefly the jagamohana. UNESCO World Heritage Site, 1984.

Puri, the White Pagoda. The Jagannath temple, begun under Anantavarman Chodaganga in the twelfth century; light-coloured with lime plaster; the centre of the Jagannath cult and of the annual Rath Yatra.

Both belong to the Kalinga school of the Nagara order, whose vocabulary is worth knowing because these papers use it: the deul or rekha deul is the sanctum tower, the jagamohana the assembly hall in front of it, the natamandira the dancing hall and the bhogamandapa the hall of offerings, arranged on a single axis. Lingaraja at Bhubaneswar is the school's most complete surviving example.

The wider point is that European names for Indian monuments often record how they looked to a particular kind of foreign observer at a particular time - Black and White Pagoda from the sea, the Seven Pagodas for Mamallapuram, the Elephanta caves named for a stone elephant the Portuguese found on the island. Such names are examinable precisely because they are arbitrary: nothing about the temple itself can be reasoned out from them, so they have to be learned.

Key facts

• European sailors in the Bay of Bengal called the Sun Temple at Konark the Black Pagoda, for its dark stone, and the Jagannath temple at Puri the White Pagoda, for its lime-plastered appearance; both served as coastal landmarks.
• The Konark temple was built about 1250 CE by Narasimhadeva I of the Eastern Ganga dynasty and is dedicated to Surya, the sun god.
• It is conceived as the sun god's chariot, with twenty-four carved stone wheels along the plinth and teams of horses at the front; the main tower has collapsed and the surviving structure is chiefly the jagamohana.
• Konark was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1984, and belongs, like the Jagannath and Lingaraja temples, to the Kalinga school of the Nagara order.
• The Kamakhya temple at Guwahati is a Shakta shrine on the Nilachal hill whose present structure is largely of the sixteenth century, and the Kandariya Mahadeva at Khajuraho is a Chandella temple of about 1030 CE dedicated to Shiva.

Common traps

• Choosing Puri because it is the more famous temple and also a coastal landmark; Puri is the White Pagoda and Konark the Black.
• Assuming the name has a religious meaning; it is a navigational nickname given by European sailors, based on the colour of the stone.
• Attributing Konark to the Chandellas or the Cholas rather than to Narasimhadeva I of the Eastern Ganga dynasty.
• Supposing the standing structure at Konark is the main sanctum tower; the deul has fallen and what survives is chiefly the assembly hall.
• Reading the comma inside each option as a pairing between two lists, when it merely separates a temple from its place.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Sun Temple at Konark was built by which ruler, and is conceived in what form ?

  • (a)Narasimhadeva I of the Eastern Ganga dynasty; the chariot of Surya
  • (b)Rajaraja I of the Cholas; the chariot of Surya
  • (c)Anantavarman Chodaganga; a lotus throne
  • (d)Krishnadevaraya of Vijayanagara; the chariot of Surya

  Answer(a) Narasimhadeva I of the Eastern Ganga dynasty; the chariot of Surya - built about 1250 CE with twenty-four carved wheels and teams of horses. Anantavarman Chodaganga, of the same dynasty, began the Jagannath temple at Puri in the twelfth century.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which one of the following was known to European sailors as the White Pagoda ?

  • (a)The Sun Temple, Konark
  • (b)The Jagannath Temple, Puri
  • (c)The Lingaraja Temple, Bhubaneswar
  • (d)The Shore Temple, Mamallapuram

  Answer(b) The Jagannath Temple, Puri - its light, lime-plastered appearance gave it the name, in contrast to the dark stone of Konark, the Black Pagoda.