Hey guys, today I am going to show you why many ancient temples have moats around them.
You can take Angkor Wat, which is the largest Hindu temple in the world, and it is completely
surrounded by water on all four sides.
You can take the great Brihadeeswara temple in Thanjavur, and you can see a water body
around it too.
Many ancient temples are designed this way, but there should be a serious question popping
in your mind right now.
A moat, by definition is a defense mechanism, it protects people inside it.
If you look at Wikipedia, it says “historically to provide a structure with a preliminary
line of defence.”
Moats are typically used in castles, to prevent enemies from attacking them easily.
But these are temples, these are places of worship, not castles or forts, kings and even
common people don’t live inside these temples, so why were the moats necessary?
Archeologists and historians have cracked this a long time ago.
Let us look under the Plan section of Angkor Wat in Wikipedia:
The temple is a representation of Mount Meru, the home of the gods according to Hindu mythology:
the central quincunx of towers symbolises the five peaks of the mountain, and the walls
and moat symbolize the surrounding mountain ranges and ocean.
So, it clearly states that the moat was just a representation of the sea surrounding the
mythical mountain called Meru.
So, you can see that ancient Hindus were making these elaborate structures, in fact mile long
structures just to mimic an imaginary mountain called Meru.
And if you are a Hindu, you know that lord Vishnu will always sleep in the middle of
the sea of milk.
So, the moat must have been an absolute requirement.
There is even a huge carving of the churning of the sea of milk in Angkor wat Temple.
You see this is how the ancient builders really thought.
They had deep superstitious beliefs and to make these myths into a reality,
to make their fantasies real they went through great pains.
This is why they built this massive moat to ensure that Lord Vishnu can reside in the
sea of milk.
If you believed this theory, you belong to the mainstream people.
These kinds of theories are repeatedly mentioned in history books, Wikipedia, and TV programs
it sounds almost realistic, but in reality, it actually demeans the ancient builders.
Why?
Because it assumes that whoever built this gigantic moat
did not build it for a scientific reason.
The fact is, whoever built the largest religious structure in the world, would have been anything
but unscientific.
Of course, nobody asks, if temples dedicated to Lord Vishnu needed moats to symbolize the
sea of milk, why do temples dedicated to Lord Shiva like the Brihadeeswara temple, also
have moats around them?
What about Koh Ker Pyramid, this is also an ancient Hindu Pyramid, why was that, designed
with a moat?
Today, I am going to demonstrate why these moats were actually built?
To do this, I have come to the ancient site of Mahabalipuram.
It is a fascinating location with many ancient temples, but the secret does not lie in the temples.
The secret lies in the beach.
Now where will this rod stand firmly?
If I take this rod and stick it in, in this sand, that does not have any moisture
Will it stand firmly here? or if I take this rod and if I walk over here
and stick it here in this sand that has a lot of moisture
will it stand firmly in this sand?
Where do you think, the rod will stand firmly?
Did u have an aha moment?
It is like magic, isn't it?
Once I revealed the secret, it sounds so obvious.
This is what ancient wisdom really is.
The answer is right in front of your eyes, hiding in plain sight, all the time.
But the paradox is, to understand the science behind ancient wisdom, first you have to
believe that ancient builders did everything for a scientific reason.
You have to remove the prejudice in your mind, that ancient temples were built by a bunch
of superstitious people, who just built things for just random rituals.
But this is not a conscious thought, it is a deep-rooted subconscious belief, that is
subliminally enforced not only by history books, but by the society itself.
The reason for constructing a moat, a water body near the temple or around the temple,
is that some types of soil require constant moisture to hold structures firmly.
In fact, in the case of Brihadeeswara temple, archeologists have even found inscriptions,
that ancient builders did extensive soil tests before starting the construction.
So, they needed the water to provide moisture to the soil.
Today Architects and Civil Engineers have a separate term for this. They call it OMC - Optimum Moisture Content.
Now, think about this, why many Ancient temples built with their own water tanks.
There are huge reservoirs in ancient temples, some of them are extremely ornate and beautiful.
History books and Wikipedia will make superficial claims that water is very important for Hindu
rituals, spiritual cleansing, etc.
But ancient architects killed 2 birds with one stone by setting up these temple tanks.
On one hand, they made sure water was not stagnating too much around the main structures,
which can also make the temple weak.
They made sure the rain water falling on the structures will not stagnate there, but be
channelled into the tank.
On the other hand, the temple tank will continuously, but slowly keep on moisturizing the soil,
keeping the temple’s base firm.
In fact, the builders of Angkor Wat went through enormous pains to channel water from a far
distant place, to fill this moat around the temple.
When Europeans first explored ancient Hindu temples, they were surprised to see these waterbodies
around them, but you have to understand they could only compare them with what they had in Europe.
Many European castles had moats that were created for defense, they lived in a constant
state of war, actually some entire cities were set up with moats, so they just theorized
that these Hindu temples were also built with protective moats.
Until today, no English word has been coined for these water bodies around these temples,
because archeologists never made an effort to understand why they were created.
These are not moats at all, they were not created for defense purposes, but were created
to provide a firm soil for the temple to last long.
But they should coin a new word for this.
I hope u liked this video, I am Praveen Mohan, thanks a lot for watching, don’t forget
to subscribe and I will talk to you soon.
Bye!