The Sun Temple is a Hindu temple located in Konark, Odisha state, India, dedicated to the sun god Surya. In the 13th century, stone was used for the construction.
The name Konark is made of two  Sanskrit words – Kona, meaning corner, and Arkr, meaning sun. The town’s geographic location, which gives the impression that the sun rises at an angle, gave rise to its name. Sun worship and the Konark sun temple have a long history that dates back to the 19th century BC. The Konark sun temple, however, was built in the 13th century. From the fifth to the fifteenth centuries, the eastern ganga dynasty ruled over the historical territory known as Kalinga, which includes most of modern-day Odisha as well as a few portions of Chhatisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, and west Bengal. It was one of the most powerful dynasties in India which gave existence to majestic temple and puri Jagannath temple.

The Konark temple was built by king Narasimha deva 1 in 1244 to worship Surya, the sun god. Because Konark has been referred to in numerous ancient writings as the sacred seat of Surya, it was chosen as the building site. Many Hindu scriptures mention Konark as an important place for worshipping the sun. One of them claims that Konark is where the first sun temple was built. The story of how Samba, the son of Lord Krishna, constructed the temple to worship the sun is told in the samba purana, an ancient scripture dedicated to Surya. It is thought that Samba was the first to introduce sun worship. According to mythology, samba completed his 12-year sun worship in Maitryeavana in the 19th century BC by erecting a sun temple. He was cured of his leprosy through this worship.

Moreover Narsingha deva’s passion was to build temple. He built temples at Srikurman, Varaha Narasimha temple at Simhachalam, Siva temple at Kapilas and Gopinatha temple at Remuna. Hence, in his lifetime he fought many battles to acquire funds, and to expand and establish his power in all three direction, north, south and west. Therefore, it may be assumed that the temple construction was started after Narasingha deva’s final victory over the Muslims who did not dare to attack Odisha again within the next 200 year. The temple construction was completed around 1278 AD.
The next controversy about the sun temple at Konark is if Suryanarayana [sun god] was ever worshipped there or the temple collapsed even before its completion.

According to Madala Panji the temple was completed and worship of Suryanarayana continued there for many years. Abul fazl has not mentioned anything in Ain-Akbari about the ruined condition of konark temple. Hence, it may be assumed that, in 1580 AD it was in good condition. M.H. Arnott believes that the temple collapsed while removing sand from inside the temple just after completion of construction.  The temple was never consecrated or worship started. Rajendra lal mitra was initially of the opinion that the temple was never completed but changed his opinion later and said that worship was going on in the temple.

Hunter following rajendra Lal mitra said that temple was never completed, but later changed his opinion and stated that the worship of suryanarayana was going on there. Bishan swarup, finding some wear and tear marks on the throne, believes that worship was going on in the temple for quite a long time.
Man mohan ganguly believes that the temple was completed and consecrated. Pandit krupasindhu Mishra says that the temple was completed and suryanarayana was being worshipped there for almost 300 years. Percy brown finding some parts of the temple belonging to the top lying unscathed on the ground says temple was never completed as these parts were never raised to the top.

Alice boner says that the first worship in the temple was started on a specific Candrabhaga Snana yatra day that occurred on a Sunday. K.C Panigrahi disagreeing with M.H. Amott and Percy brown says that the temple was completed and sun god was worshipped in the temple. Karuna Sagar Behera concurs that there was worship at the temple.