The Sun Temple of Konark (also known as the Black Pagoda), on the Bay of Bengal in the Indian state of Orissa, was built approximately in 1250 during the reign of the Eastern Ganga Hindu monarch Narasimhadeva (ruled 1238-1254) as a shrine to Arka, the sun deity.

Constructed near the end of the formidable Kalinga period (7th-13th c. CE; during which time as many as 10,000 temples were built in Orissa), the Sun Temple is the pinnacle of classical Oriyan architecture.

The entire complex was designed in the form of a chariot drawn by seven horses on twelve pairs of wheels (each 3 metres in diameter) carved into the facade of the temple.

Most remarkable, of course, are the innumerable carvings of human forms in the erotic depictions of the Kama Sutra, which line the facade of the entire temple.

The erotic images are a testament to Narasimhadeva's life of leisure and spiritual devotion.