Sooraj Pancholi takes blessings at the Konark Sun Temple

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Sooraj Pancholi was named Sooraj as he was born just after his father Aditya Pancholi finished playing the role of Suraj in Saathi.

Incidentally, 'Aditya' too means suraj (the sun). His mother Zarina Wahab, from when Sooraj had been a kid, made symbolic things to emotionally connect Sooraj with the sun. His cupboards were painted the sun's yellow colour. She had got a sun designed on the ceiling of his room which had a light in its centre. So at night, when the light came on, it looked like the sun. Sooraj went to school and there too, he was put in the 'Surya House'.

READ: Sooraj Pancholi's Hero: Lesser known facts

And while he is clearly the 'sun' of his mother's life today, Sooraj picked the world famous Konark Sun Temple in Odisha to start his promotional tour for his upcoming entertainer Hero. While Sooraj was staying at Puri, he woke up at 4 am to drive to the Konark Sun Temple (an hour from Puri) to take the 'Sun's' blessings when it rises in the morning. It's common for stars to visit religious places before their films, but taking the blessings of the sun is a first.



The Konark Sun Temple in Odisha derives its name from the combination of the Sanskrit words, Kona (corner) and Arka (Sun). The sun as we know rises from the east and since this temple is located at the corner, the sun flows through it and the temple is thus dedicated to God Surya.

The temple was first built in the 13th century with beams of iron that were held together by a magnet. But then the magnet lost power and the beams collapsed. The temple was rebuilt again in Kalinga styled architecture and is today a UNESCO World Heritage site. In Rabindranath Tagore's words, 'Here the language of stone surpasses the language of man.'



The Maharaja of Odisha was called the Gaja Singhasan meaning lion. So this structure represents the king. But if you look closely, it's unique. It has a lion on top of an elephant that is on top of a man. Lion symbolises power and elephant symbolises money. It is well known that when a man has power and money, he becomes egoistic, so this structure at the entrance symbolises that when you enter the temple, you need to put your ego down before entering.