The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c11.142.3

v1.c11.142.3

In this latter sense, the worship of the sun has all but completely ceased for near a thousand years, and no great temple has been dedicated to him within the last six hundred years. The Black Pagoda of Koṇārak was designed for him about the middle of the thirteenth century, but only to replace an older one which had become dilapidated. The new structure, however, fell down before it was consecrated, and was never rebuilt. In the Puri enclosure, there is a small temple containing an insignificant small figure of the sun, which is said to have been intended for the Koṇārak temple; but it is said to be the old one whose temple was being rebuilt and not a new one, and there is nothing to show that when it was made, the sun was received by any large number of persons as the deity for their salvation. The *Kapila Saṁhitā* praises the worship of the sun as a means of curing diseases, and the Koṇārak sun enjoyed its celebrity because it had cured a prince of leprosy. The temple at Gwalior enjoyed the same credit, and other temples elsewhere likewise depend for their celebrity on their healing powers. The temple of Mārtaṇḍa at Kashmir is perhaps the largest ancient temple of the sun extant; it dates from the beginning of the sixth century of the Christian era, and at the time of its foundation, heliolatry might have been more current than in subsequent years, but the *Rājataraṅgiṇī*, which notices it, says nothing in favour of such a theory;