Hey guys, I am at a very ancient temple at Kudumiyanmalai, and I am told that there is
a set of ancient carvings in the face of a hill behind the temple, and it has not been
seen by anyone in the last 1000 years.
We can see these carvings from a distance, and it looks strange, almost like a large
carving of a wristwatch.
There is a dial in the center and the strap is extending on both sides of the dial.
But what does this carving actually show?
How do we observe and analyze the details?
I am told that no one can reach this place now, because rocks have fallen in the path,
and it is too risky, so nobody has seen this carving in 1000 years.
So, I am going to use a drone to document this unseen carving.
As we go closer, we realize that the center dial is not a dial, we can see a giant animal
in the middle.
And we can even see some figures sitting on this animal.
Who are they and what are they doing?
The animal is a Giant Bull, called Nandhi and there are 2 figures sitting on it.
One is Lord Shiva, shown with 4 hands, and you can see his wife sitting right next to him.
If you observe carefully, you can even see what he is holding in his hands.
The Bull is decorated beautifully, look at the layers of beads on his neck and look at
how he is standing stiff, almost looks angry and you can see his tongue sticking out of
his mouth.
But there is an interesting figure standing next to the bull.
Who is he?
What is he holding in his hands?
Is it a large umbrella for the Gods?
Or is it something else?
I am shocked by his hairdo, look at how his hair is standing erect, as though he is getting
electrocuted by an electric pole.
Is he human or is he something else?
But who are these figures?
There are lots of strange figures on both sides, who are they?
Before going into this, you must have had an important question popping in your mind right now.
Why did ancient builders carve this here?
Just think about this, there is so much of vacant space around this hill and they have
already constructed an entire temple at the ground level.
Ancient builders have carved as much as possible inside that temple too, but still they were
not satisfied?
Why did they climb to this inaccessible location and carve these figures here?
It is not easy even today to climb and reach this place.
There is no proper pathway to reach this spot.
But here, my question is, why are they carved separately away from the actual temple premises
and why in such a weird, unreachable location?
Only a handful of locals know that this carving exists, none of the visitors or researchers
even know about this.
But even if you know about this carving, you cannot see it clearly.
Only if you take a drone, you will able to see it.
So, the question is why did ancient builders decide to carve something in a place that
is unreachable for anyone?
And no historian or archeologists has made a detailed analysis of this.
This is the very first time these relief carvings are being documented, on our channel.
You will not find any documentation of these carvings anywhere even on the internet.
Now, this is like you getting ready in the evening, putting on the most fashionable clothes,
wearing the most expensive jewellery and watch, and perfume, but you are not going out or
meeting anybody, you are just going to go to bed, and be sleeping alone.
The purpose of dressing up, is to be seen by others, right?
Similarly, the purpose of making carvings is also to be seen by others, that’s the
common logic, but this location completely defeats this purpose.
So why did they make it here?
Even though some locals told me it is not even possible to stand here and carve, I think
there is enough space to stand and carve these sculptures, I think we can reach this place
and we can sit here and enjoy these carvings, but it is a difficult, inconvenient spot.
And this difficulty in accessing information, seems to be a common theme in ancient Hinduism,
they always carved the most intricate and very important sculptures in places that are
not easily reachable.
It is quite fascinating to think about, why ancient builders made sure, any type of advanced
information was not accessible to casual visitors, but made them available, only to serious people
who were looking for answers.
Here, you can see a bunch of stone blocks stacked on top of one another.
This is not natural; it is an artificial blockade.
set up to make sure no one can come here.
This must have been done many centuries ago, because if it has happened recently, people would
have just put a metal barricade.
This is quite intriguing, because it means, at some point in the past, people were banned
from visiting this place.
Was it because some people slipped and fell down?
Or was it because of some other reason?
We may get some valuable insight if we analyze this closer, I think there are inscriptions
on the floor, and that may help us date the carving.
And now let’s come to the most important part, who are these people standing on either
side of Lord Shiva and his wife?
I have counted them carefully, you can see 31 figures on the left side, and there are
32 figures on the right side, and that’s a total of 63.
These are the 63 saints called Nayanars, who are die-hard devotees of Lord Shiva.
Most of them are standing in a Namaste pose, and they almost look similar to one another.
Now, the common theme in History Books and even today’s Social Media narrative, is
that in ancient Hinduism, there was no equality.
People were categorized into different castes, and there were even untouchables, by birth.
Higher caste people dominated the lower caste people who were not given equal rights or opportunities.
So according to today’s textbooks, the concept of equality only began, when other cultures came to India.
The same theme also applies to feminism, it is claimed, women were never treated equally,
and were not given equal status to men, until the last 50 years in India.
But this carving proves that this narrative is pure nonsense, because out of the 63 Nayanars
who are all standing shoulder to shoulder, we can see men and women.
We can see kings, priests, poets, hunters, fishermen, manual workers and the so-called untouchables,
there are even children in this list, all given the same respect and recognition, for their work.
This team was made purely based on their love and devotion to lord Shiva and nothing else.
And these people lived somewhere between 3rd century to 8th century, so you can realize
how equal the Hindu society was, about 1500 years ago.
And sculptors must have carved this around the 8th century A.D, because the nearby temple
also belongs to the same timeline, so this carving must be about 1300 years old.
If these carvings serve no purpose, then why would somebody put their time and effort to
carve something in a place, that could not be reached or even seen by anybody?
What were they trying to do out here?
And why did they not want anybody, to access these carvings?
Why did they blockade this area?
What is the meaning and purpose of this carving?
Please let me know your thoughts in the comment section.
I am Praveen Mohan, thanks a lot for watching.
Don’t forget to subscribe, and I will talk to you soon. Bye!!