Introduction
When we talk about the architecture of temples The Indian Ancient Temple comes into mind immediately with their wonderful intricate architecture.
But this time it’s not a temple with intricate designs, nor with a commonly known temple style architecture. This temple is special in history not in design.
Yes, there is a temple that might be one of the oldest Hindu temples in the world, which dates back to even 6000 years.
Today I’m talking about a temple that is not commonly known to everyone, also there is no information about this on the internet in ample amount.
This article belongs to our Temple Travel series. Where we discover and uncover stories about ancient temples of the world.
About The Temple
This temple is known as Suraj Kund Temple located in the northern region of India in Punjab state and Sunam city. Suraj Kund temple is located inside the premises of a school named Shri Suraj Kund Sarvhitkari School.
The School premise has two entrances, I personally entered by the alternate gate. If you are also going through this gate, you will find a long entrance road, a playground on its right side, and the school building on left.
In front, there is the temple complex and behind it the famous kund. While the temple has a small entrance and in front a Vedi or Pavillion for all the Yagya ( a kind of prayer with the help of fire) to perform.
It was a general practice to build Temples near the water storage. Hence you will see every other Indian ancient temple to be built near a river or a manual water reservoir is built, commonly known as Kund.
That is why, on the backside of the temple kund lies, not very deep and big, but spacious enough for the villagers.
History of Suraj Kund Temple
Well, Just like any other ancient temple in India, a self-explanatory sign history sign board was offering its services for the visitors.
In the Vedic period, the city was known as Surajpur, and a river named Saraswati was believed to have flown nearby.
You might have read my other post on Harshat Mata Temple but the design is totally different here, In fact, it actually does not look like an ancient temple. The reason is, there are concrete and tile floors
In a nutshell, the modern city is actually built within the walls of a fort. Also if you see the topography of the city The middle part is higher called the Citadel of the fort and the rest lowland are around. More history content can be accessed on the Sangrur district website.
Some Facts
- According to the history board, The temple was built by king Shobhan of Surajpur ( AKA Sunam) five-six thousand years ago near the Saraswati river. Its history is also described in the Imperial Gazetteer of Patiala. Writer Al-Bruni also mentioned this temple in his book Kitab-Ul-Hind.
- It is said that king Shobhan was a great devotee of the Deity Sun & to protect his people from Shani, (Saturn diety) he built this temple.
- In the whole of India, There are only Five Sun temples, out of five, four are in Orissa, Jammu, Kashmir, Gujarat, and Assam. One is this Sun temple in Sunam.
- It’s said that in a Sun eclipse, only this temple out of five gets direct sunlight at a 90-degree angle.
- Moreover, Suraj Kund is the place where Maharishi Vedvyas wrote some shlokas (Hymns) of Vedas, and Brahma practiced Dhyana.
- Before the attacks of Temur lang and Gazanavi, the temple was so mesmerizing, idols were built from Asht- that, gates and doors were garnished from stones and gold. But unfortunately, Just like other attacked temples this also got destroyed.
How to reach
It’s almost 90 km from Ludhiana and 232 km from Delhi but is well connected by trains, bus, and air also. I preferred the bus which hardly cost me 200 rs to reach there from Ludhiana. If you are coming by road, you need first reach ITI Chowk, Sunam.
But the hard part of the story is to reach the temple from ITI Chowk to the temple. Because hardly a few people know about the Suraj Kund temple there. Thanks to google maps, I managed to get a location to help you.
The Temple lies on Khadiyal village road, which is hardly 6 km from chowk itself. I walked the whole way, cause I need to ask for the address of every other guy.
Last words about this ancient temple
Sunam Sun temple is one of the five temples in India. Many historians have written about this temple in their research and books. Punjab University’s Ancient history, culture, and archeology department ex-secretary have also written about this Indian ancient temple in his book “Punjab archive remains in Sunam“.
Everyone should visit this temple, It is my little effort to bring light to this 6000-year-old temple’s history. Building and its remains are saying that history can never be destroyed by attacking, It can only be blurred for a period of time.
It would be a humble request to all of you to visit this temple and share this article.
Thanks.
