Early Inventions of ancient Indians - Invention 1 - Chaya Someshwara Temple !!

Early Invention of ancient Indians - Chaya Someshwara Temple - Mysterious Shadow temple of ancient Chola kings!!

            Ancient Indians had invented many priceless science concepts, technologies and given valuable medicinal knowledge to this World. But, these early inventions of ancient Indians are not recognised and acknowledged. In fact, many such valuable inventions of ancient Indians are being stolen and getting patented in the names of foreigners and foreign organisations.

        In this blog, I will bring upon the all those lost, suppressed and stolen work of Indians and will keep a count on it, to know the total number of original inventions from Bharat. This post will throw some light on one such ancient scientific inventions of Indians, which are not recognised by any of the scientists or science organisations in the World.

   

First, let us see about the significance of the temple 'Chaya Someshwara', to know completely about the 2 such ancient scientific inventions of our unsung ancestors. 

        

Chaya Someshwara temple is situated near Hyderabad, Nalgonda district of Telangana. This temple is a live demonstration of early inventions of ancient Indians, which were exhibited in the temples before the westerners could invent it. 

        This temple was built in 11th century CE by great Kunduru Chola kings with a mix of dravidian and kakatiya style of architecture.  

Chaya means - Shadow, 

Someshwara means - Lord Shiva, who is the main deity of this temple.

This temple is famous for its mysterious shadow that falls on Shiva lingam throughout the day, irrespective of the time and position of the sun. 

The Department of Archaeology and Museums had declared it a ‘protected monument’ in year 2000.

        There are three sanctums in this temple, one for the main deity Lord Shiva, in the form of Shiva lingam, second sanctum dedicated to Lord Brahma and third sanctum dedicated to Lord Vishnu, but the idol of Lord Vishnu was destroyed by the invaders and thus currently Lord Shiva's idol has been placed over there. 

Due to the presence of Lord  Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma, this temple was named as Trikutalayam. 

In this temple, there are three types of mysterious shadows that one can experience near each sanctum. Let us see about each sanctum shadow one by one.

Mystery shadow 1

    

          The first sanctum dedicated to Lord Shiva, where there is an everlasting mysterious shadow that falls on Shiva lingam throughout the day, irrespective of the time, direction and position of the sun. The position of shadow also never changes in any day and any time.  

    The pillars in this sanctum, were designed in such a way to cast a unified pillar’s shadow constantly on the shiva. 

Below picture - is the first sanctum, where you can see Lord Shiva over there, in the form of lingam.

Look at the strong shadow that falls precisely on the Shiva Lingam. 

I will explain the mystery about this shadow in 4 points.

Point 1. There are no pillars opposite to the Shiva lingam and to the sanctum. So, what is the source of this shadow? Below picture is for reference, where the pillars are positioned on the both the sides of the sanctum. 

Point 2. Usually, When the position of the sun and the direction of the light changes, the position and shape of the shadow will also change. But, here in this temple, the shadow on the Shiva lingam doesn't change its shape, irrespective of the direction of light, time and position of the sun. It always stands still over the lingam.

Point 3. Even, this shadow can not be removed by standing in front of Shiva Lingam or blocking any pillars in the temple. 

This is the side view of the pillar. Check out the pillar design, it is very unique. The ancient Indians had used an advanced technology to cast a constant shadow on the Shiva lingam without any change in the position of the shadow.

Point 4. You can test the shadow by standing beside any pillar, but can't see your shadow on the Shiva lingam, only the unified same shaped shadow will be visible on the Shiva lingam. So, the source of the shadow and the source pillar is unknown yet.

        The temple was named due to the mysterious shadow/ Chhaya  that falls on the main deity, Shiva Lingam. This shadow is very apparent that you may witness it even today when you visit this temple. This temple serves as an epitome of 'Optical science' invention by ancient Indians. 

        Many scientists, historians, foreigners has visited this temple, but failed to solve the mystery behind this shadow.

Mystery shadow 2:

The second Garbhagriha / sanctum is dedicated to Lord Brahma. 

In this sanctum, if a person stands in front of the god, one can witness 4 shadows of him. That is, his shadow falls on all the four directions. 

Mystery shadow 3:

The third sanctum is dedicated to Lord Vishnu. As Lord Vishnu's idol was destroyed, lord Shiva's idol has been replaced here.

    In this sanctum, if a person stands in front of a God, his shadow will always fall in front of him irrespective of the time in a day.

One of the sanctum in this temple was situated in the West direction facing East, to form a constant shadow over Lord Shiva throughout the day. 

Some scientists speculated some scientific theories behind this shadow. Let us discuss about it one by one.

Science behind this shadow:

        The origin of this mysterious shadow is unresolved over the years and many have speculated some of scientific theories behind this shadow. Let us discuss about these theories 

One such speculation is : Scattering of light 

The pillars in front of the sanctum was designed in such a way that, the light was scattered through pillars and forms a unified shadow over the lingam. 

Westerners found this concept 'Scattering of light' - only around 1800 CE. 

Second speculation is: Refraction of light

The refraction of light is the scientific concept behind this shadow. The unique design of the pillars and the pillar positioning paves way for the single unified shadow on the Shiva lingam, irrespective of the time and direction of the light. 

Westerners found this concept of refraction around 1600 CE.

That is, ancient Indians had mastered the concepts of optical science and implemented it in the temples, before the westerners could invent it. Indeed, westerners have found the refraction of light and scattering of light, about good 700 - 800 years later than the construction of this temple. But, the ancient Indians had invented it much earlier than the age of this temple.

        Why the inventions of ancient Indians are always being suppressed and not recognised ?  

Though we have this temple as a living example and proof for the early inventions of our ancient ancestors, these inventions are neither recognised by any of the scientific organisations nor acknowledged. 

    

        Still, in school and google, we study that westerners have invented the concept of scattering of light and refraction of light in science.

Consistently, the priceless knowledge of ancient Indias were suppressed, stolen and the concepts are being patented in the name of westerners!!!

The great ancient Cholas kings had built many majestic temples with excellent scientific knowledge mixed with it.

Brihadeeshwara temple, Thanjavur:  This temple also deals with the shadow concept. The shadow of the main gopuram doesn't fall on ground during noon. To know more about this temple, reach out to,

https://divinediyaas.blogspot.com/2019/02/brihadeeshwara-temple-worlds-first.html

Chaya someshwara temple - In this temple,A mysterious shadow falls on Shiva lingam all the day, without any pillars in front of it. In Brahma sanctum, one can witness 4 shadows of himself and in the third sanctum one can witness his shadow on the opposite direction, irrespective of the position and direction of the light. 

        The Brihadeeshwara temple is 1000 years old, which was designed NOT to cast a shadow on the ground at noon and this temple was designed to cast a shadow always on the God.  These ancient architects had an amazing talent in optical science and they strategically decided whether to cast a shadow or not.

        From these two temples of Chola kings, it is obvious that they were experts in optical science and the shadow concept in temples is like a hidden puzzle that needs to be decoded. Chola kings had built impressive temples not only to worship Gods, but also to pass on the priceless scientific knowledge, the architectural skills and precise mathematical calculations to the future generations. 

Why this ancient temple is not listed in the Wonders of World ? Instead, why a memorial place of a Mughal queen (Taj Mahal) which is comparatively not that ancient, was chosen as seven wonders of the World ? Politics to please someone ?

During the Mughal rule and britishers rule, they tried to destroy this temple heavily, but failed in vain. Still, one could see the damaged carvings in this temple.

The carvings of lion and some intricate designs are destroyed by the invaders...

Here are some of the elaborate carvings and unique pillar design of this temple. These pillars were designed in such a way that light was made to bend to cast a unified shadow on the Shiva lingam.

Ruined outer walls at the backside of the temple...

This temple stands for both architectural and scientific marvel of the Chola Kings.

Though there are many scientific theories revolving around this temple, it is surely an impossible task even now for the advanced people, to recreate this temple with the same precision. The phenomenon of light bending around the edges of objects was discovered only in the 18th century - i.e 800 years after the construction of this temple.

As I mentioned in the starting of this post, I'm counting this scattering of light and refraction of light as 2 separate early inventions of our ancient Indians. In this post, I'm registering that Indians were the FIRST one to invent the optical science concepts of Refraction and Scattering of light.

        In my future posts, I will write down more such suppressed early inventions of Indians and will spread the glory of our ancient Indian Kings and their priceless knowledge!

- Aarthi Thiyagarajan