Hey guys, I found a radical new stone technology in an ancient temple. Please observe carefully:
Is this a megalithic structure, meaning is it made of many big stone blocks?
Or is it a monolithic temple, meaning is it made of just one rock? Believe it or not, It is
a combination, the ancient builders have managed to combine both these construction techniques
in this 1300 year old temple. This is the line where the megalithic construction
ends and the monolithic architecture begins. It is very rare to see such a sight. You see this line;
this is the magical meeting point. On that side of this line, you can see giant rocks added to
build a structure, the technique of adding, the temple is made of multiple stone blocks,
that is megalithic. On this side of the line, you can see tons of rock scooped out,
the technique of removing was used to create a structure, this side is monolithic. And
both these construction techniques meet in this line. I have shown you giant monolithic structures
like the Kailasa Temple, I have also shown you many megalithic temples. But to see both of them
together used in the one single temple, this is extraordinary, I have never seen it before,
and I don’t think anybody has found this detail, because ancient builders have combined them so
smoothly. Only when you look at the beams and pillars, you start realizing the differences.
This side, they are made of giant blocks of stone, you can see the joints. But look at this pillar,
it has no joints, because it was made by removing the rock around it. When I look at
the writings here, again I can see something very strange. There are 2 ancient languages,
Sanskrit and Tamil, combined in these inscriptions. You can see 2 scripts,
side by side. This is a very strange combination because these two ancient languages are
said to have completely different origins and experts claim that they did not coexist
in ancient times, but here, you can see them used together 1,300 years ago.
Of course, you may wonder, how did they put such a single stone block here, obviously they
cannot move such a giant stone block and put it here, I don’t think that's possible. This is part of a hill,
I will show you how it looks from the outside, and you can see that this structure is built
joining the face of the hill. Megalithic here, and monolithic in the hill face. So, this chamber was
made by scooping out tons and tons of rock of the hill. And what is inside the main chamber?
There is a very large lingam, again it is also a part of the hill.
Even though we have flashlights, we cannot see the lingam clearly, only the outline is visible.
By the way, this place is very dark, and this is the best we could capture, even though we used
decent flash lights. Only when I used the flash from my DSLR, I could see the lingam clearly for
a second. I will show you how this place looks with no light, it is almost pitch black, you
cannot even see who is standing right next to you, so how did ancient builders manage to build such
a structure? But it is not about just building the structure, it is about details. Look at this giant carving,
may about 7 or 8 feet tall, look at the details carved on him, in this darkness. Look at his belt,
the buckle and the straps hanging on both sides. On the wall, there are some strange symbols
and writings. Experts have analysed this, and confirmed that these are the oldest inscriptions
about music, found in India. It describes the 7 notes in Indian music similar to the DO, RE, MI,
FA, SOL, LA, and TI of western music. But why did they hide it in this dark area, and make sure no
one can access such valuable information? But let us get back to the construction
techniques, ancient builders not only made this incredible monolithic work,
but they also made some insane megalithic work in this temple complex.
Don’t be distracted by that baby monkey, just look at my height, and look at the height of these
pillars. Each one is at least 20 feet tall. And, they all have brilliant statues attached to them,
but they are not attachments. Each statue is a part of the same stone block, this is
solid granite. You can look for joints and see if these are made of multiple stone blocks
but no, this is a monolithic pillar, but it is very irregular. The top is narrow,
possibly just 2 feet wide, but as we come to the middle area, you can see the pillar transforms
into a giant statue of a horseman, it can easily be 5 feet wide here, and at the bottom that width
is maintained. I have calculated the weight of this pillar, and it will easily be at least 10
tons, that is about 10,000 kilograms or 20,000 pounds. In this hall alone, there are 20 pillars,
that’s a total of 200 tons, just for pillars. So, imagine how they would have cut,
moved, and placed them upright. I mean, even today, this would be a monumental task,
to cut such large pillars and place them here. But it must have been easy for the ancient builders,
right? Because they have also carved insane amount of details on the same stone blocks.
Now here you can see this figure, riding a giant parrot, you can see some amazing details,
for example, he is using a chain as a rein to control the parrot. The chain is really awesome,
but that’s not the detail that surprises me,
do you see what I see? Let’s go to the other side, to see if the other carving, also shows this
little detail. And sure enough, you can see there is a small hole right next to the parrot’s eye.
That’s one of the ears of the bird, for hearing sounds. It is carved clearly on the bird,
but do parrots really have ears? Well, no right? At least I have never seen them
with ears. So, is this detail just imagination? No, parrots do have ears, hidden underneath the
feathers, and they are placed exactly in the same position as shown in these ancient pillars. So,
think about the intelligence of ancient builders, they were not only masters of megalithic,
macro level construction, but they were also masters of micro level details.
Ok, so in this temple, I have shown you how monolithic and megalithic construction meet
in a single line, I have shown you insane details on the monolith in the dark, extraordinary work and details of
megalithic construction as well. But, there is something even better, there is
a monomegalithic structure. I had to invent a new term for this particular stone block,
that is just impossible to understand. It is so big that 50 people can sit on this block,
and you can see that it is cut in a hexagonal shape, with six sides. I can basically walk on
this, and you cannot see any joints at all. But why? Right? Why would they do such a
monumental task, why can’t they just assemble smaller stone blocks, like normal people,
right? It weighs about 125 tons. How did ancient builders move this stone block from the quarry to
this location? How did they transport it? Today, the largest trucks like 18 wheelers can carry only
up to 50 tons, and this stone block is two and a half times heavier. The axles of modern trucks
will break with this load, so how did ancient builders transport it? What kind of vehicles did they use to move it?
This stone block must have also been placed here at least 1,300 years ago, and you can
see that the newer generations tried to build around it, probably in the last few centuries,
but they could only cut and place small stone blocks, these are undoubtedly new blocks,
and even worse, they even damaged this part, while putting a pillar on this side, because
these new builders were just normal people. So, how did the ancient builders combine
monolithic and megalithic technology? How did they achieve this level of perfection
in macro level as well as micro level? Is it possible to cut and move such giant stone
blocks with simple tools and vehicles? Or were they using advanced technology?
Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section, I am Praveen Mohan,
thanks a lot for watching, don’t forget to subscribe and I will talk to you soon. Bye!