Konark temple owes its philosophical origin to Langudi

 

Subhas Chandra Pattanayak

Years ago, a former colleague in print media, Shuvendu Kumar Bhuyan, had approached me for a write-up in Oriya for a souvenir he was planning to publish on Buddhist remnants of his home district Jajpur. I wrote on Langudi and how the famous Konark temple owes its philosophical origin to this splendid seat of Buddhism. The article was meant to throw new light on the creator of Konark, Langula Narasingh Dev and to raze down the concocted claims and wrong legends woven around Konark while focussing on significance of the name of Langudi. Despite reminders, he has neither sent me the copy of the publication nor has return me the manuscript. I am putting it here, because researchers on the subject may benefit from its contents.