Rotating Pillars
Once Thomas Babington Macaulay said “A single shelf of a good European library is worth more than the whole native literature of India and Arabia” May he have never seen this single pillar which is a complete library in itself filled with the knowledge of metallurgy, advanced engineering, sculpting, rock tumbling and unexplainable architecture.
Rotating Pillar Of Hoysalshwara Temple, Karnataka
Just look at this strange pillar inside the Chennakesava temple in Tamil Nadu. Archeological Survey of India, & government organizations have confirmed that it was built as a rotating pillar 900 years ago by ancient builders, but the pillar stopped rotating about 300 years ago. At first instance, the pillar looks like a metal cylinder, but after giving it a closer look, you will realize that it is made of stone.
It’s fascinating to note that there are many carvings and idols in ancient Indian temples and architecture that incorporate rotating objects. This indicates that Indians were not only aware of the rotating mechanism but also knew how to make it work for centuries without maintenance. While it’s relatively easy to make rotating carvings with metals, creating them with stones requires a great deal of precision and knowledge.
In this Blog, we will talk about some rotating objects existing in Indian temples one by one.
First of all the question is that ??
Did these pillars actually rotate? How would this entire pillar rotating look like, and the most important question is How did it rotate?
To understand this, first of all, we need to understand the rotating mechanism.
In modern days, to rotate two objects that correspond to each other, we use ball bearings. A ball bearing is a type of rolling element that uses balls to maintain the separation between the bearing races. The purpose of a ball bearing is to reduce rotational friction and support radial and axial loads. It achieves this by using at least two races to contain the balls and transmit the loads through the balls. In most applications, one race is stationary and the other is attached to the rotating assembly (for example a hub or shaft). As one of the bearing races rotates, it causes the balls to rotate as well.
Nowadays we use 5 types of ball bearings.
These are called as:
- Ball bearings
- Cylindrical roller bearing
- Spherical roller bearing
- Tapered roller bearing
- Needle roller bearing
1. Rotating Pillars Of Ancient India:
Now just look At the bottom, and you can see a small gap.
If you look inside, you can see small stone balls, some of them are still intact, even though most of the stone balls have been crushed. These are the ball bearings on which the pillar was used to rotate. Today in modern technology, To move these types of 2 cylindrical objects we need Thrust Bearing or Thrust Ball Bearing where balls are placed between 2 rotating parts to reduce friction. But we use metal balls instead of stone. On the top of the pillar also, you can see the same gap, yes there are ball bearings there too, confirming that it was built as a rotating pillar.
2. The Rotating Pillar Of Yamayi Mandir, Satara:-
This is a column made of stone at Yamayi mandir, Aundh, Satara, Maharashtra. To set up something like this there has to be a rotating mechanism and it is not easy to set this up in stone because you cannot open it afterward and put lubricant inside. To have a rotating mechanism made of stone, you need to have advanced knowledge in engineering. They seem to be supporting pillars but actually are pivoted
3. The Rotating Pillar In Kerala
This is another rotating pillar located at Thiruvizha Mahadeva temple located at Thiruvizha, around 5 km southwest of Cherthala town, in Alappuzha district, Kerala. This pillar is still in fully rotating condition while the temple is nearly 1300 years old. The temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva. This temple is very famous for removing poisonous effects from the body with its miraculous medicines.
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4. The Rotating Pillar Temple In Bangalore
These granite pillars look quite different, it is not only because they are very ancient. but, every pillar is made of 5 different stone blocks, and these tire-like blocks are individually rotatable. This stone block can be rotated like a tire in the axle of a car. And these blocks are all, at least 1263 years old. And how are these blocks still rotating even after 1200 years? To rotate this type of mechanism we need cylindrical roller bearings.
This temple is found in the heart of an ancient Indian city, Sri Rangaswamy temple, Bangalore. And this temple was built 1263 years ago. Some experts claim that this temple is even much older than this
5. Rotating Ball Inside A Column:-
Here is a column that has small holes through which you can insert your finger. As you can see, there is a stone ball inside it, and you can move it up and down. but, you cannot pull the ball out through these tiny holes, you can only move it inside the hollow column. Carving is amazing but the bigger question is how did they manage to put this ball inside this pillar. If you claim that this is carved, then how did they manage to scoop out the rock that was inside through these small holes? More surprisingly the ball is completely circular, no edge or deformity exists in the carving. How efficient they were in their work.
6. Stone Carved Ball Inside A Pillar:
This is a ball inside a pillar carved out of a single stone. As you can see the ball is entirely circular and has a shiny surface, you can only touch it, can do it up and down and rotate this ball, but can’t remove it from this pillar. It is believed that this temple is 1500 years old and was built and renovated by the Kings of the Hoysala, Chola, and Pandiyan dynasties. This temple is situated on the northern bank of the river Kollidam (Coleroon).
recently known as Matrurai Varadeeswarar Temple, thiruvasi, Thiruvasi is located at a distance of about 13 km from Trichy, Tamil Nadu.
7. Ball Inside The Mouth Of A Lion In Uthirakosamangai Temple
There is another ancient temple in a place called Uthirakosamangai, Tamil Nadu. It is at least 1200 years old. There is a ball inside a lion’s mouth. You can roll the ball, you can rotate it, but you cannot pull it out of the lion’s mouth. What’s more bizarre? The lion is made of solid granite, but the ball inside is made of a type of rock called Onyx. So how was this ball put inside the lion’s mouth, and why are we not able to pull this ball out?
8. Rotating Shell Inside The Mouth Of A Snake Of Sun Temple, Konark, Odisha:
Here is a snake’s mouth wide open in the Sun Temple of Konark, Odisha, and the mouth is held open because Lord Vishnu’s Conch shell is placed between its upper and lower jaw. But you can rotate this Conch. It spins very well, much better than some modern rotating devices.
9. Rotating Wheels Of Stone Chariot, Hampi:-
Now, let us look at one of the most iconic megalithic structures in the world Heritage site of Hampi. This is a gigantic stone Chariot standing about 15 feet tall and 10 feet wide and weighs more than 120 tons. Look at how each wheel is made of a separate stone block and they are set up on the axles, like a real working chariot. The chariot appears to be not built as a decorative or religious structure. Rather, it is built like a real vehicle, made of several parts which are assembled. But the wear and tear marks on the wheel clearly show that this chariot was moving once.
