Hey guys, today I am going to show you one of the strangest underground caves in the
world, this just looks like an ancient temple right, but as we go in through these metal
doors, everything changes.
It is completely pitch black, my tour guide is shining a flash light, but even then, we
cannot see much, so we have to use bigger lights to see reasonably well.
They have forced me to take a guide, because there are so many interconnecting chambers
that I can get lost inside and will not know how to come out.
But there is another secret reason why they don’t allow anyone alone inside.
Because of this.
There is a human body, perhaps a mummified body inside this big cube like thing.
According to locals, a person by the name of Paradeshappa rests here, this is very strange,
because Hindus normally burn the dead.
But we can see something very odd, you can see fresh concrete patches.
This is definitely done recently.
The guide says it is just a routine renovation and is hurrying me to look at the other parts
of the cave, but when I went on the other side, I spotted this.
Somebody has made a hole to see what is inside, or may be someone tried to loot the contents.
Look closely, this is not a natural deterioration, this is man-made.
A deep hole has been drilled in, a large hole of at least 3-inch diameter.
Why would someone do this?
Who is doing this?
What is actually inside this?
I think this is the reason why they have kept this cave locked with an iron gate and I think
this is why they don’t allow anybody inside without a guide, to make sure nobody is opening
this.
The guide is not allowing me to examine this hole further, and I have to move on.
But what is on top of this is even more weird to me, they have made a pillow like elevation
in concrete.
Is someone sleeping on this at nights?
But do You see this other structure nearby?
People say his belongings are preserved inside this one.
These are rituals practiced by ancient Egyptians, only Egyptians keep the belongings preserved
near the dead, not Hindus.
But when I turn around, I can see something even more strange.
There is a lingam right opposite to the sarcophagus.
It is against Hindu religion to put a dead body inside a shrine or even near it.
This lingam has a unique smell, and it is made of multiple stones.
But here, you can see something crazy, a hole, on the floor near the lingam.
But that hole has been covered recently by a pile of rocks.
Originally the water poured on the lingam would have fallen through that hole.
But where will it go?
There should be another level, a deeper underground level below this.
There are many secret areas completely sealed off in this cave.
The reason for this is not clear.
For example, look at this one.
This way is completely sealed off using metal bars.
Why was it so important to put these bars here?
What is on the other side?
What are they hiding from us?
There are also many strange secret passages and tunnels which we can miss easily.
Most tourists will completely miss these because the tour guides use small flashlights with
such narrow vision.
However, we can see many such giant holes everywhere, making it look very weird.
Watch how many doorways I have to go through within the next 30 seconds.
They are not straight; they are made in a crooked fashion.
Every time you enter a doorway, you will find more doorways, and you end up choosing from
multiple passages.
This is exactly like a maze, a labyrinth where you can easily get lost.
But there is something bizarre, the doorways are so short and narrow, that you have to
squeeze through them.
Almost all of them are less than 5 feet tall, so you have to crouch all the time, what you
saw before was actually a taller doorway, but doorways like these are the real problem.
This one is probably only 3 feet tall, and is not recommended for older people and claustrophobes.
And some may argue that it is very hard to cut the natural rocks, and make these passages,
so the builders must have made short passages to minimize their work, but look carefully.
This is not a cut out rock, they have built this by putting rectangular stone blocks,
and then they have neatly plastered over the wall, they have artificially created this
wall.
They have purposefully made the doorway short and difficult to use, making us wonder if
it was used by humans.
But it is not just the doorway that is really short, the entire area is short, and the guide
is making sure I am not hitting my head in the ceiling.
As we go deeper and deeper underground, the passages are becoming narrower and narrower,
and they are also becoming more and more complicated, built in an extremely crooked fashion.
There are doorways where I cannot even crouch through, I have to squat and walk like a frog
to get through them.
And all of them were specifically built that way, you can see the well plastered walls.
Doorways are normally made to enter and exit easily, but why do they have to make them
deliberately difficult for humans to get through?
In some of the doorways, you can see mysterious figures carved.
Who are they?
Why is this figure looking at the doorway, as though it is expecting someone?
Now who built this cave and when?
The standard answer given by the guide is that it was built 1700 years ago by a King
who was defeated and wanted to hide from his enemies.
This is a ridiculous story, you know how big this artificial cave is?
It has an area of more 6 million square feet, this is 100 times the size of an American
football field, but it also goes at least 80 feet deep, making it even bigger.
To build an underground cave like this, you need thousands of strong men, and with those
men, the king could have easily defeated his enemy, rather than building this cave.
And there is no way such a large construction project can be done secretively.
Some argue that this was built as a school, but what is the need to build an underground
school with a complex maze-like design?
Imagine creating something like this today, it would be a monumental task, even with modern
machines.
First, you have to scoop out the natural rocks worth this huge volume.
Then you have to, cut giant granite blocks and make them into pillars and beams.
Then these have to be placed everywhere to make sure the cave will not collapse over
time, or during earthquakes.
These are the very basic parts of this construction and I am leaving out the complexities like
design, water harvesting and ventilation for now.
But constructing something like this today, will be very difficult and nearly impossible
without machines.
But when was this structure originally built?
When Was it Built?
How Old?
Some experts claim it was built 1700 years ago, but when I digged into old archeological
reports, I found something shocking: It could have been built 3200 years ago.
Earliest excavations show that they found objects belonging to the Iron age, meaning
that the cave was used 3200 years ago.
Even more shocking, they found part of a sarcophagus, very similar to the Egyptian mummy holders.
They also found an ancient pot with human remains inside.
They also found a variety of coins, revealing international connections.
A Roman Denarius Coin, a Chinese coin belonging to king Wu Ti, and an Indian coin of Satavahana
period, all dating much older than 1700 years.
These coins take the cave at least 500 years backwards, trade and foreign connections must
have existed even around 200 B.C.
Normally, Wikipedia gives timelines of all ancient structures, but we can understand
why it does not say anything about the timeline of Chandravalli Caves, because it is shrouded
in mystery.
Here is a very strange structure, can you tell me what it is?
The guide explains it as a throne, but nobody can sit comfortably on this.
It has a depression inside; you cannot sit in any angle.
Where would you put your back and where would you put your legs?
You can only go in and lie down like it’s a coffin.
So, what is it?
At the back there is something scary.
That hole is only 1 foot wide.
How can somebody crawl through that?
Why does it have tiny steps in it?
If somebody manages to crawl through, why do they need steps?
Because steps are made for walking, right?
How tiny do you have to be if you are walking through these steps and entering or exiting
this doorway?
What is actually behind this wall?
On the other side, there is nothing here, the doorway is on the left.
Why did they make such a small hole?
To reduce effort?
Instead of making a big doorway, they just made a smaller hole?
No!
this is an artificial wall built by them.
So, the hole was specifically designed to be small.
The guide explains this area as a bedroom where people will sleep, these are supposedly
beds made of brick.
This is mindboggling to me, look at the ceiling, it is very low.
It is impossible to stand erect in those areas.
There is a giant slope on this side, which has many different levels.
It reminds me of factories where goods will move in a conveyor belt system to various
paths.
But one thing is clear, this was not made for humans.
These are not beds for sleeping, you cannot sleep there, your breath will hit the ceiling
and return back to your face if, you manage to crawl up and lie down there.
This is not a doorway and on the other side, that is definitely not a throne.
Why was it really built?
What was the original purpose of this cave?
So, what is the actual purpose of this cave?
Why was it built?
The Common narrative that it was a hideout or a school is wrong.
So why did they decide to dig in this area?
They did not just make an artificial cave; they have built an underground cave going
deep into the ground.
I think we are only looking at the tip of the iceberg, there are much deeper tunnels
and passages sealed off.
So why did ancient builders painstakingly dig so deep?
Were they mining for gold?
This region, the state of Karnataka, is very rich in gold, and many unexplained structures
here prove that this was a mining site.
For example, look at this, the guide calls this structure a bath tub, but it looks complicated.
There is one large tank, that is flanked by another smaller tank, we can see the holes
at the bottom, but such a complex system is not needed for taking a bath.
He says this is a sofa nearby, for resting immediately after the bath.
I have never seen anyone take rest after a bath; it must be really tiring to take a bath
here.
But this is actually a washing system for Gold, they call it a Wash Plant.
Even today, people take gold ore from the ground, and pass it through multiple tanks
for washing, and extract pure gold.
This is a modern wash plant and you can see the similarity of how water and the ore is
run through multiple stages in several containers.
Now, we can understand the purpose of the so-called throne.
It is a shallow tank to wash or process gold and the hole above would have been used to
drop gold ore or water or both into the tank.
If you look at a modern-day sluice box in gold mining, it has tiny little steps to create
deposits, just like what we see in this hole, perhaps this was an ancient similar system.
But there is something much more brilliant here.
The ancient builders must have designed a water channel system, that brings water from
an outside source.
We can see water still getting channeled here, but the ancient pipeline system must have
gotten clogged and nobody knows how to fix it, they probably don’t even know it exists.
This is why we still see water leaking in several places.
May be gold mining explains why there are pots drawn everywhere, you can see three pots
carved here, and in the center, there is a container.
Inside it, you can see more pots, symbolizing Gold and Richness.
But there is something else on the walls that is even more strange.
What are these spaces?
According to the guide, these are lamp holders, people would put a simple oil lamp in every
dome shaped structure, because it is dark in here.
But why would an entire wall be covered with these lamp holders, how many lamps do they
need in a single room?
It doesn’t seem likely that you need 20 lamps on one side of the room, and the other
walls are blank.
Even more interesting, in some areas, especially in dark areas, there are no lamp holders,
where you actually need light.
Another mystery is the ventilation system.
This is supposedly the deepest area I am allowed to be in, it is 80 feet deep, yet there is
excellent airflow in here, I am not short of breath.
This means there are ventilation shafts from the ground level connecting all the underground
chambers.
Most ancient underground structures like Derinkuyu and Ellora Caves used cylindrical ventilation
shafts to supply oxygen to deep chambers.
So, this cave was not built in a hurry, It is a very well planned structure from start
to finish.
This is evident when we see 5 different materials used as a part of construction.
Square granite blocks, Bricks, Lime mortar, dirt and the natural overhanging rock as the
ceiling.
So what do you think?
Do you believe in the conventional theory?
Or was this an ancient gold mining site?
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Bye!