Even though we can see these lingams vaguely from outside, the real view can be obtained
only if we get underwater and for the very first time and this has never been shot before,
I am going to go underwater and show you how it feels.
Hey guys, today we are going up a mountain called Phnom Kulen in Cambodia.
This place has many ancient lingams constructed underwater.
So, let's go take a look and see what this mountain has to offer.
We are at this place called Phnom Kulen Mountain; we are not at the ground level.
There is a stream here, but there is something spectacular inside this stream.
Look, do you see what this is?
You see a rectangle inside a rectangle, inside a rectangle, inside a rectangle, inside a
rectangle.
Now you may wonder what this is.
This is a lingam.
Or at least, there used to be a cylindrical lingam in the center.
Now it is gone.
But that is not the only remarkable feature.
And that is not even the only lingam, look.
LOOK. the entire stream is full of lingams.
You see there are lingams of various sizes, here there are smaller lingams and look over
there, there is a huge rectangle there.
These are all lingams carved underwater here in Cambodia.
And let us go into the water and see how these multiple lingams look.
There is a square around another square, and in the center, there is a cylindrical protrusion.
There are so many of them.
This is a huge lingam, seems like it has some kind of mystical energy to it.
This huge rectangle once must have had a cylindrical lingam inside, it is great to see how it looks
underwater.
Look we can even see fish swimming alongside the camera.
So even though we call this place Phnom Kulen Today, originally this place was called Sahasralinga,
which means one thousand lingas.
And this is not a misnomer, and this is not even an exaggeration.
This is actually an understatement because we have more than one thousand lingams underwater
if you look closely.
If you See there, there is one huge rectangle, and you can see here, so many lingams.
If you look all over the stream, we can see a lot of lingams, going all the way on both
directions.
The name sahasralinga means one thousand lingas in Sanskrit, which used to be the main language
here in Cambodia, more than a thousand years ago.
And people think these are randomly carved lingams on the river bed.
But they are not!
There is a pattern here.
If you look carefully, you will see these carvings in squares.
Now, here you can see one square, and you will see 8 rows of lingams, and 8 columns
of Lingam, so you have 8 rows and 8 columns like a chessboard, and so you have a total
of 64 lingams and you can see this much better in this panel on the right side, you can see
these 64 lingams.
Because they are actually coming out of the water, or at least partially coming out of
the water.
Now, what's the secret to this number 64 right, why do these lingams have to be in
groups of 64?
Because there are 64 Bhairavas, there are 64 forms of Shiva, mentioned in Hinduism.
Let's go underwater and take a look at them.
Each cylindrical protrusion is one lingam.
Just imagine how fresh and perfect these lingams must have looked at the time they were carved.
When we casually look at this rectangle within the rectangle within the rectangle, we don't
understand anything, people just assume that this is a fancy lingam.
But there is something bizarre about this, this is the model of Angkor Wat, the largest
Hindu temple in the world, which is located about 25 miles from these carvings.
If we compare them, it is shocking because the aerial view of Angkor Wat temple is built
as a rectangle within a rectangle within a rectangle matches perfectly with this carving.
This groove which is carved like a connection between the rectangles, is actually a bridge
that connects 2 rectangles in Angkor Wat temple.
And there is yet another weird connection between Angkor wat and this Mountain.
Where did all the stones of Angkor Wat come from?
They were cut from this mountain.
This mountain is now known as Phnom Kulen, but originally this entire mountain was called
Mahendraparvata, meaning the Mountain of the Lord Indra.
They have found a 1200-year-old inscription confirming this original name.
And here you can see underwater, a perfect square, and you see a lot of very interesting
details.
One, you see a circle in the center, and then there is another concentric circle surrounding
it, like a weird cymatics pattern.
Of course, like I told you 8 rows and 8 columns , but not all 8 rows have protruding lingams,
you see, for example from the left, on the very first row, one two three, you have protruding
lingams, and the four is just an empty hole and then again, one two, and the last 2 are
just holes.
We see the same pattern around, we don�t have all these lingams, we have these empty
holes.
Now, what is the mystery of this?
And more importantly right, why were these thousand lingams carved underwater?
Cambodians who used to be Hindus more than a thousand years ago, believed that lingams
have strange energy, and were capable of making everything fertile.
Now, why did they make these lingams, on top of this mountain, in the path of this stream?
Of course, historians and archeologists will simply blame it on meaningless rituals followed
by primitive people.
But remember, there is always a reason behind everything.
Originally, Cambodia was just one big massive forest land, but ancient Hindus cleared them
and made them into paddy fields, into rich rice fields.
But simply clearing the forest, and planting crops were not enough to turn the land into
rich rice fields.
The water flowed from this mountain top into the fields, but the soil lacked fertility.
It needed an additional ingredient, some unfathomable magical property.
Hindus believe that Lingams have strange energy and if water runs through the lingam, it turns
into a magic potion.
This is why devotees still pour water on top of lingams today.
This is why these thousands of lingams were carved on this path, because the water flowing
through these lingams would reach the rice fields ensuring a great amount of rice.
Some people think that this place was completely dedicated to Shiva, because all these lingams
represent Shiva.
But here, underwater, you see this amazing carving of Lord Vishnu, sleeping in the water.
Look at his face, you see how he is sleeping.
This is a huge carving of Vishnu inside the water.
Now remember, Vishnu is usually shown sleeping in the cosmic ocean.
So it is very appropriate that he is carved underwater, you can see, he is resting on
this huge multiheaded snake.
And also look at this figure at his feet, this is Goddess Lakshmi, his wife.
Now, let us go underwater, this is a closeup of Lord Vishnu�s face and You can even see
a strange smile, a grin on his face.
A lot of sediments have taken over this carving, because Cambodia switched from Hinduism to
Buddhism many centuries ago, and these carvings were completely neglected for hundreds of
years, but they are still in very good shape.
In certain angles, you can see very large squares, this is a huge square, possibly about
4 feet on each side and inside there is a Yoni, but the real view comes when you get
in the water.
Let us see if we can go into the water and see how this looks.
Come.
How did they carve this underwater?
Experts say that about a thousand years ago, when these lingams were carved, the water
level was much higher, which means the sculptors have to go underwater, hold their breath and
carve these lingams with chisels and hammers.
And there are documentaries which show that these lingams were carved below the water
level.
But there is a problem with this theory.
Holding the breath is not a real problem right, you can even use hollow bamboo stems and breathe
underwater for several hours, there are many tribes who still do this.
The real problem is using a chisel and hammer under water.
Do you think you can use a hammer with enough force underwater?
Have you ever tried to punch someone underwater, it is impossible, you will make a soft touch,
because you cannot move your hand very fast.
Even if you have not tried that, you have definitely seen in movies, what happens when
someone shoots a bullet underwater.
Even bullets slow down a lot in water.
Because water has a lot more density compared to air.
To make a carving, you have to hit it hard.
This is a bed rock, this is not soft.
So, we have to agree that either ancient builders had superhuman strength or used advanced machining
technology to carve underwater.
There are a lot of secrets hidden in the water, and I am going to explore more.
But for now, I hope you guys liked the video, thanks a lot for watching.
Don�t forget to subscribe and I will talk to you soon in a completely different video.
Bye!