The Temple of the Sun at Konarak in India's Orissa state is considered the high point of the tradition of Hindu temple building that began in the late eighth century. Shortly after the Konarak temple was built in the mid-thirteenth century the Mughal invasions put a premature end to this architectural tradition. The Konarak temple was a monumental representation of the chariot of the Sun God. It featured twelve pairs of wheels on its side walls and the figure of the god standing at the front of the building driving his horses. Almost every square inch of the temple's outer walls is covered with carvings that range widely from abstract designs to animals, human beings, and gods and vary in size from a few inches to many feet." One of the most striking aspects of the sculptural program of this particular temple is the enormous number of erotic sculptural groups it contains. While such works are found on many temples, Konarak has the greatest number and variety of anywhere and "nothing like it exists anywhere else in the world." The erotic sculptures are of three types: the simple representation of the couple (mithuna), the detailed depiction of copulation (maithuna), and groups that involve more than two people. The iconography of the erotic sculpture at Konarak (and other temples) has puzzled scholars for many years and they have produced many different explanations of the statues' meanings. The identification of the erotic element as being related to Tantric practices seems to be the most convincing explanation -- but other possibilities have not been entirely ruled out.
The apparent oddity of the temple to Western and to some modern Indian eyes is the combination of highly erotic scenes with divine worship. As Desai notes, many of the practices shown, such as bestiality and oral sex, were traditionally abhorred. Yet there is almost no limit to the imaginative erotic couplings shown on the temple. Since the site wa...