7000 year old Ancient caves discovered in Andhra Pradesh

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7000 year old Ancient caves discovered in Andhra Pradesh

A group of caves containing ancient rock art have been discovered by a researcher in Akkampalli, in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. The discovery is archaeologically significant as the caves contain artwork that depicts the state of civilisation and culture 7,000 years ago.

The site, found by researcher K. Ramakrishna Reddy and comprises five caves — three natural and two rock-cut — the etchings on whose walls throw a great deal of light on the life, culture, traits and beliefs of the era. Curiously, they contain dozens of images of crocodiles, with one of the caves depicting a detailed life-size figure of a crocodile prominently drawn in red ochre.

The site has hence been named musalla gunda (‘boulder of crocodile’), and it has been suggested that the area must have contained crocodiles although there are no water bodies there currently. Depictions of crocodiles have been found at other rock art sites in India, including the artwork shown in the featured image, which was discovered in the Bhanpura-Gandhi Sagar area of Madhya Pradesh. The crocodile measures 1.45 metres in length and is depicted in x-ray style, which also shows the internal organs of the crocodile. These paintings not only point out to the keen interest which prehistoric folk took in the study of animals but that these folks were spread out over wide geography and over a span of several eras.

Two other famous prehistoric rock art sites can be found within Andhra Pradesh, including Ketavaram, a site containing 100 human and animal figures drawn on basalt rocks, belonging to a period ranging from 6,000 BC to 200 AD; and Chintakunta, the second largest rock art site in India, which contains 200 paintings  in ten shelters bearing red and white paintings of deer, bulls, elephants, foxes, rabbits, hyenas, reptiles, birds, geometric designs and human figures. The site in Akkampalli is thought to be contemporary to the existing rock sites at Ketavaram and Chintakunta.

One of the caves has been converted into a Shiva shrine referred to as Nainalappa gudi or Vibhuthipandla guha.

Source. TheHindu.com

2500 year old ancient city found at Chhattisgarh

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2500 year old ancient city found at Chhattisgarh

In May last year, archaeologists in India unearthed evidence of a 2,500-year-old planned city in Tarighat, Chhattisgarh, complete with water reservoirs, roads, seals and coins, buried 20ft below the ground, in a discovery billed as India’s biggest archaeological find in recent memory. Now at the same site, researchers have found remnants of a “gutted settlement” which had been completely devastated by a huge fire in around the 2nd century BC, according to a new report in the Deccan Chronicle. The discovery adds to the mystery of the ancient site, as archaeologists try to piece together its ancient past.

Excavations at Tarighat over the last year have revealed that it was a rich trading centre where its residents enjoyed an affluent lifestyle. Female terracotta figurines recovered from the site, indicate that women were fond of different hairstyles and rich costumes. In total, twelve different hair styles were identified among the figurines. In addition, numerous Indo-Greek coins were discovered, along with more than 15 varieties of beads found in large number in almost 2,000 unusual sizes, styles and shapes, which suggests that Chhattisgarh served as a significant bead manufacturing centre. Pendants, ornaments, bangles of gold, silver and copper have also been unearthed from site which had to be placed under supervision of department guards.

Pendants, ornaments, bangles of gold, silver and copper found from burned city in India
Some of the artifacts recovered at the site. Photo source.

Excavation director and archaeologist in culture department of Chhattisgarh, JR Bhagat said, “Chhattisgarh was the earliest urban centre on bank of Kharun river like other discovered centres of Mathura, Hastinapur and Takshashila on banks of river tributaries. Figurines retrieved from Tarighat so far indicate a rich lifestyle of people adorned with ornaments, who used to wear turbans.”

There are four 15ft high mounds on the river bank around which existance of coins and some terracotta figures have been found. State archaeological department believes that the area seems to have been divided into blocks which appear like a market. Many structures were found to be facing the main road which is clearly visible between the blocks. About six to eight rooms were found on both sides of the road.

It is generally assumed that Tarighat finds date from 5th and 3rd century BCE. This was the period when the region was ruled by the Kushan and Satavahana dynasties in central India. An archaeologist from the Deccan College, Pune, says “It was the end of the period of the 16 Mahajanapadas (loosely translated to great kingdoms) when the Mahabharata was supposedly set, and when the Maurya empire had just began.”

The facts surrounding the great fire which destroyed much of the settlement are unknown, but researchers are hoping that further excavation work, which given the extent of the site may take another 5 – 10 years, will help unravel the mystery.

The “gutted settlement” reminds of Roman city Pompeii that was buried under 13-20 ft of ash and pumice in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. The archaeological site spreads over five acres and experts now believe that it is one of the earliest urban trading centres in the country. The Tarighat site provides evidence of four continuous cultural sequences including the Gupta period (sixth century AD), Satavahan period (third century AD), Kushan period (1st-2nd century AD) and early history period (1st-2nd century BC).

Excavations in a pre-historic site in Chhattisgarh by archaeologists have yielded tools believed to be of 10,000 years old.

artefacts found at gutted settlemet in chhatisgarh
Image Source

More than 100 tools of various materials and varied sizes have been excavated at the site recently. The artefacts found were in shapes of blades, lunettes, scrapers, burins, and cores and predominantly instruments. Some tools have suffered erosion in sharpness indicating that they were used items, while some others were found to be re-used. According to Mr Bhagat, in Mesolithic period, these types of tools were integrated with wood and used for skinning the animals and cutting trees.

A few months ago, archaeologists working in Chhattisgarh, came upon 10,000-year-old fascinating cave paintings depicting ancient extraterrestrial visitors.

Featured Image: Excavation in progress at Tarighat archaeological site in Chhattisgarh. Credit: Deccon College

Mystery of Nine Unknown men of Maurya Empire

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Mystery of Nine Unknown men of Maurya Empire

The Nine Unknown Men of Ashoka a secret society of India dating back to 273 BC to the regime of the Indian emperor Ashoka, the grandson of Chandragupta Maurya who was the founder of maurya Dynasty.

Ambitious like his ancestor whose achievements he was anxious to complete, he conquered the region of Kalinga which lay between what is now Calcutta and Madras. The Kalingans resisted and lost 100,000 men in the battle. At the sight of this massacre Ashoka was overcome and all he could see were burnt houses and scattered corpses. This sight made him sick and he cried the famous quotation, “What have I done?” Upon his return to Pataliputra, he could get no sleep and was constantly haunted by his deeds in Kalinga. The brutality of the conquest led him to adopt Buddhism under the guidance of the Brahmin Buddhist sages Radhaswami and Manjushri and he used his position to propagate the relatively new philosophy to new heights, as far as ancient Rome and Egypt.

According to the legend, upon his conversion to Buddhism the Emperor founded the society of the Nine to preserve and develop knowledge that would be dangerous to humanity if it fell into the wrong hands. It is said that the Emperor Asoka once aware of the horrors of war, wished to forbid men ever to put their intelligence to evil uses. During his reign natural science, past and present, was vowed to secrecy. Henceforward, and for the next 2,000 years, all researches, ranging from the structure of matter to the techniques employed in collective psychology, were to be hidden behind the mystical mask of a people commonly believed to be exclusively concerned with ecstasy and supernatural phenomena. Ashoka founded the most powerful secret society on earth: that of the The Nine Unknown Men.

Samraat Ashoka and Emblem of India
Samraat Ashoka and Emblem of India

One can imagine the extraordinary importance of secret knowledge in the hands of nine men benefiting directly from experiments, studies and documents accumulated over a period of more than 2,000 years. What can have been the aim of these men? Not to allow methods of destruction to fall into the hands of unqualified persons and to pursue knowledge which would benefit mankind. Their numbers would be renewed by co-option, so as to preserve the secrecy of techniques handed down from ancient times.
The Nine Books

The Nine Unknown Men would use a synthetic language. Each would be the guardian of a constantly rewritten book that contains a detailed statement of science.

  • Propaganda and Psychological warfare is a concerted set of messages aimed at influencing the opinions or behavior of large numbers of people. Instead of impartially providing information, propaganda in its most basic sense presents information in order to influence its audience. It is the most dangerous of all sciences, as it is capable of moulding mass opinion. It would enable anyone to govern the whole world.
  • The second book is devoted to physiology. It would include a way to kill a man by touching him, death occuring by reversal of nerve impulses. It would also give all known techniques on various pressure points of the body to cause unconsciousness, death or chronic lesions. He would add, of course, all the means of curing these ailments, including techniques of resurrection.
  • The third study the microbiology, including protective colloids. Chiefly it would study genetics, and also would detail the wave mechanisms to repair muscles and organs. It would include a complete treatise of Sonology, or science of the virtues and properties of sound in all frequency ranges.
  • The fourth deal with Alchemy, including the transmutation of metals and their secret properties such as hydrophobicity and hydrophilicity. In India, there is a persistent rumor that during times of drought or other natural disasters temples and religious organizations receive large quantities of gold from an unknown source. The mystery is further deepened with the fact that the sheer quantity of gold throughout the country in temples and with kings cannot be properly accounted for, seeing that India has few gold mines.
  • The fifth would contain the study of all means of communication, terrestrial and extraterrestrial. It deals with transport of goods and people by all techniques, including teleportation – but also details all the ancient and modern media -including still unknown ones.
  • The sixth contains the secrets of gravitation. The Vaiminaka shastra is said to contain the instructions necessary to build a Vimana, sometimes referred to as the “ancient UFOs of India.
  • The seventh is the largest cosmogony designed by our humanity. Cosmology, the capacity to travel at enormous speeds through spacetime fabric, and time-travel; including intra- and inter-universal trips.
  • The eighth deal of light. More broadly, it would be devoted to the operating mode of the cosmo-telluric subtle energy, atmospheric energy and nerve impulses.
  • Dedicated to sociology, it would explain the rules of civilizations and could plan their fall” and electronic techniques to control the thoughts of a subject or a crowd.

Numerous figures who straddled the line between occultism and science fiction writing, most prominently (and apparently first) Louis Jacolliot, Talbot Mundy, and later Louis Pauwels and Jacques Bergier in their Morning of the Magicians, propagated the story of the Nine claiming that the society occasionally revealed itself to wise outsiders such as Pope Sylvester II who was said to have received, among other things, training in supernatural powers and a robotic talking head from the group. In more recent times, according to this circle, the Nine assisted humanity by revealing the secret of the Cholera vaccine.

Among conspiracy theorists the Nine Unknown is often cited as one of the oldest and most powerful secret societies in the world. Unusually for the conspiracy subculture, the image of the group is largely though not entirely benign. Theosophists also believe the Nine to be a real organization that is working for the good of the world.

Some modern Indian scientists such as Jagdish Chandra Bose, a pioneer in Radio and Microwave Optics and Vikram Sarabhai, the man behind the Indian space and missile defense programs, were said to believe in or even to be members of the Nine although documentation on this issue is predictably scant. Believers in the Nine also point to the mysterious Delhi iron pillar, which is said to have been constructed at a time before the technology.

Indian scientists are occasionally rumored to be members of the Nine Unknown Men, and from time to time, if a Westerner should visit India and then do something astounding, he is considered to have had their help (as was the case with Pope Sylvester II, and also Alexandre Emile John Yersin, who knew Louis Pasteur and Pierre Paul Emile Roux, who respectively created vaccines for Rabbies and Dyphtheria).

Excavation in Oman finds link to Indus Valley civilisation

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Excavation in Oman finds link to Indus Valley civilisation

Archaeologists in Oman’s southern Sinaw region have discovered a site that could reveal Indus Valley civilisation’s influence on the Omani society 2,300 years ago, officials said. The tomb of a buried man with sword and daggers made of iron and steel was unearthed during an excavation and it has been scientifically proved that iron and steel arms were made in the Indus Valley civilisation first time ever.

Sultan Bensaif Al Bakri, director of Excavations and Archeological Studies of the Ministry of Heritage and Culture has said that this finding may prove the influence of the Indian civilisation on Oman during that period. However, he said that further studies would be carried out on this regard.

The tomb was found during an excavation located around 22km south of Sinaw in Oman. The underground chamber, which dates back to 300 BC, contained the remains of a middle-aged man with a robe, woollen cap, and leather boots, along with his personal arms – a sword and two daggers.  The sword has an intricate handle partly covered with textured ivory shaped like an eagle’s beak. The daggers were tied on the right and left sides of his waist. Near his grave, two male and female camels were also buried. They were slaughtered after the death of the man. The walls of the graves of these camels were erected with stones. The man’s garments and sword suggest he was a chieftain of a tribe.

According to the descriptions provided by the archaeologists, the sword and daggers were made of iron and steel which was first made in the Indian civilisation from where it spread to the neighbouring civilisations, including Oman, said Al Bakri.
Indus Valley Civilization is one of the three oldest urban civilizations, along with Egypt and Mesopotamia.

Map of Oman and India

The Ministry of Heritage and Culture will restore these arms and will display these models in the proposed national museum scheduled to open at the end of this year.

This finding was made during a rescue excavation carried out by the Ministry of Heritage and Culture in coordination with the ministry of transport and communications that was working on the project of Sinaw-Mahout-Duqm road.

While digging, the Ministry of Transport and Communications found a graveyard spread across 100 sq m. This major archaeological finding was made when the ministry excavated 35 graves that came in the way of the proposed road.
Source: Times of Oman

Mystery of Bird Suicide at Jatinga, India

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Mystery of Bird Suicide at Jatinga, India

Jatinga is a village on a ridge, is located in Dima Hasao District, Assam State in India. It is 330 km south of Guwahati. The village is inhabited by about 2,500 Khasi-pnar tribal people and few Dimasa people. This small Village is famous for the phenomenon of birds “committing suicide”. Over the last 100 years, thousands of birds have flown to their death over a small strip of land in Jatinga, India.

The Bird Suicide Mystery is a unique phenomenon that occurs at Jatinga between September and November each year. During these late monsoon months, several migratory and local birds commit mass suicide at the village. Just after sunset, between 7 and 10 pm, hundreds of birds descend from the sky, plummeting to their deaths by crashing into buildings and trees. Since birds aren’t known to be suicidal, the phenomenon has baffled villagers, visitors and scientists alike.

Many ornithologists have dedicated their time in research of this unnatural phenomenon. They have found that there are many species of local birds such as Kingfishers, Pond Heron, Black Bittern, Tiger Bittern, etc. are subjected to such strange behaviour. Studies have also revealed that the birds commit suicide in Jatinga during the late monsoon as most of the water bodies in Assam are flooded by that time. The birds lose their natural habitat. So they appear to be migrating to other places, and Jatinga is in their migratory path. But it isn’t clear why the birds fly at night, or why they get voluntarily trapped at the same place every year.

In 1988 when Assam faced severe floods maximum number of bird suicides was reported in Jatinga. Some of the long distance migratory birds are not affected by this phenomenon.

Curiously, most of the doomed birds do not attempt to fly away after they land near the lights. They look dazed and disheveled, perhaps due to the trauma of the whole shocking experience. Such birds fall easy prey to the villagers. Some of the birds hovering around the light sources are brought down by a vigorous swing of the bamboo poles. Catapults are also used to bring down the birds in flight as well as those perching on the trees and bushes near the light sources. However, contrary to the popular belief, birds do not commit suicide. Under circumstances not yet fully explained, these birds get caught in the fog and wind, get disoriented and seek solace of the light sources put out by the villagers. They hit against trees or other objects and get injured in their flight towards the light source. The villagers hit the hovering birds with bamboo poles or catapults to bring them down.

Studies also show that the birds come in only from the North and land only on a well-defined strip in the village – that’s 1.5 km long and 200 meters wide. Lights placed along the southern side of the village have failed to attract any birds.

“It is not suicide, to be precise,” said Anwaruddin Choudhury, a well-known ornithologist in Assam. “But the fact remains that birds are attracted by light and fly towards any object with a light source. This phenomenon still puzzles bird specialists.”

The phenomenon of ‘avian harakiri’, as the locals call it, was first observed by the Zeme Nagas, the inhabitant tribe of the region in the early 1900s. It frightened them so badly that they sold their land to Jaintias and left the place in 1905. The new inhabitants also observed the phenomenon, but interpreted it as a gift from God.

The Jaintias aren’t entirely wrong. After all, the phenomenon has captured the interest of wildlife circles and tourists, making the village of Jatinga world famous. The birds alone are responsible for a boost in tourism during the monsoon months. And they’re quite delicious; locals relish these exotic delicacies. The villagers deliberately switch on lights and lanterns to attract the birds and capture them every year.

Electricity In Ancient India

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Electricity In Ancient India

In the Prince’s Library of Ujjain in India, there is a well preserved document called the ‘Agastya Samshita‘, which dates back to the first millennium BC. It contains a detailed description not only of how to construct an electric battery/cell, but also, how to utilize the battery to ‘split’ water into its constituent gasses.

Modern battery cell resembles Agastya’s method of generating electricity. For generating electricity, Sage Agastya had used the following material: One earthen pot, Copper plate, Copper sulphate, Wet saw dust, Zinc amalgam

His text says :

संस्थाप्य मृण्मये पात्रे ताम्रपत्रं सुसंस्कृतम्‌। छादयेच्छिखिग्रीवेन चार्दाभि: काष्ठापांसुभि:॥ दस्तालोष्टो निधात्वय: पारदाच्छादितस्तत:। संयोगाज्जायते तेजो मित्रावरुणसंज्ञितम्‌॥

Translation:

“Place a well-cleaned copper plate in an earthenware vessel. Cover it first by copper sulfate and then moist sawdust. After that put a mercury-amalgamated-zinc sheet on top of an energy known by the twin name of Mitra-Varuna. Water will be split by this current into Pranavayu and Udanavayu. A chain of one hundred jars is said to give a very active and effective force.”

When a cell was prepared according to Agastya Samhita and measured, it gives open circuit voltage as 1.138 volts, and short circuit current as 23 mA.

Anen Jalbhangosti Prano Daneshu
Vayushu
Evam Shatanam
Kumbhanamsanyogkaryakritsmritah.

Translation:
He says that if we use the power of 100 earthen pots on water, then water will change its form into life-giving oxygen and floating hydrogen.

Vayubandhakvastren Nibaddho
Yanmastake
Udanah Swalaghutve
Bibhartyakashayanakam.

Translation:
If hydrogen is contained in an air tight cloth, it can be used in aerodynamics, i.e. it will fly in air.

Kritrimswarnarajatalepah
Satkritiruchyate

Translation:
A layer of polish of artificial gold or silver is called satkriti (good deed.)

Yavksharamyodhanau
Sushaktjalsannidhau.
Aachhadyati Tattamram Swarnen
Rajten Va
Suvarnliptam Tattamram
Shatkumbhmiti Smritam.

Translation:
In an iron vessel and in a strong acidic medium, gold or silver nitrate covers copper with a layer of gold or silver. The copper that is covered by gold is called shatakumbha or artificial gold.

These things came to light when Rao Saheb Krishnaji Vajhe had passed the engineering exam in 1891 from Pune. While looking for scriptures related to science, he found a few pages of the Agastya Samhita with Damodar Tryambak Joshi of Ujjain. These belonged to around Shaka Samvat 1550. Later on, after reading the said description in the pages of the Samhita, Dr.M.C.Sahastrabuddhe, the Head of the Sanskrit Department in Nagpur felt that the description was very similar to that of Daniel Cell. So he gave it to P.P. Hole, the Professor of Engineering at Nagpur, with a request to investigate.

When Mr. Hole and his friend started preparing the apparatus on the basis of the above description, they could understand all the things except shikhigreeva. On checking the Sanskrit dictionary, they understood that it meant the neck of a peacock. So, he and his friend went to Maharaj Bagh and asked the chief when a peacock would die in his zoo. This angered the gentleman. Then they told him that they needed its neck for an experiment. The gentleman asked them to give in an application. Later, when during a conversation, they narrated this to an Ayurveda expert, he burst out laughing and said that here it did not mean the neck of a peacock, but a substance of that colour, that is copper sulphate. This solved the problem. Thus, a cell was formed and measured with a digital multimeter. It had an open circuit voltage of 1.38 volts and short circuit current of 23 milli amperes.
 
The information that the experiment was successful was conveyed to Dr.M.C. Sahastryabuddhe. This cell was exhibited on August 7, 1990 before the scholars of the fourth general meeting at the Swadeshi Vigyan Sanshodhan Sanstha, Nagpur. It was then realised that the description was of the electric cell. They investigated as to what the context was and it was realised that Sage Agastya had said many things before this.

Rao Saheb Vajhe, who spent his life in rummaging the Indian scientific scriptures, and discovering various experiments, gave different names to electricity on the basis of the Agastya Samhita and other scriptures and that electricity is created in different ways. Ancient Vedic technologists produced six kinds of electricity:

  • Tadit—the one produced by friction from leather or silk,
  • Saudamini—that produced by friction from gems or glass,
  • Vidyut—produced from clouds or steam,
  • Shatakoti alias Shatakumbhi—that produced from a battery of hundreds of cells,
  • Hradini—that obtained from storage cells,
  • Ashani—the one emanating from a magnetic rod.

Elephanta Caves – ancient rock-cut chambers

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Elephanta Caves – ancient rock-cut chambers

The Elephanta Caves are a complex of ancient cave temples on Elephanta Island, located 10 km away from the Gateway of India at Mumbai. One of the oldest rock cut structures in the country, the Elephanta Caves are the perfect expressions of archaic Indian art associated to the cult of Lord Shiva.

Here, Indian art has found one of its most perfect expressions, particularly the huge high reliefs in the main cave. Here you will find two categories of caves; one is the Hindu rock art and the other is the Buddhist rock art. The place is still worshipped by the locals, and is dedicated to Lord Shiva. One can spot some resemblance to the Ajanta and Ellora caves, which are around 300 km from Elephanta.

Trimurti statue at elephanta caves near mumbai

The origins of the Elephanta Caves have been debated time and again, though the sculptures and the art speak volumes about the time from when they could have been popular-6th or the 8th century.

The island on which the caves are built was originally known as Gharapuri, and the Portuguese retitled it as Elephanta Island when they discovered a large stone structure of an Elephant on the island. However, it is believed that the Portuguese destroyed many other structures and even used the idols of Hindu Gods within the caves for target practice.

Pillar of elephanta caves near mumbai

Shortly before the Elephanta temples were created, Bombay had experienced the golden age of the late Guptas, under whom the arts flourished. Sanskrit had been finely polished, and Kalidasa and other writers had helped incite a Hindu religious revival under the court’s liberal patronage. Shaivism, the worship of Shiva, inspired the building of these temples.

trimurti statue at Elephanta cave of Mumbai

Many of Elephanta’s priceless statues were damaged or destroyed by the Portuguese, who apparently used the Hindu gods for target practice. There have also been reports of vandalism and carelessness by modern visitors.

This rock cut temples were created by carving out rock, and creating the columns, the internal spaces and the images. The entire temple is akin to a huge sculpture, through whose corridors and chambers one can walk. The entire complex was created through a process of rock removal. Some of the rock surfaces are highly finished while some are untreated bare rock.  The entire cave temple complex covers an area of about 60000 squrare feet.

There are two groups of caves. To the east, Stupa Hill (thus named because of a small brick Buddhist monument at the top) contains two caves, one of which is unfinished, and several cisterns. To the west, the larger group consists of five rock-cut Hindu shrines. The main cave is universally famous for its carvings to the glory of Shiva, who is exalted in various forms and act ions. The cave consists of a square plan mandapa whose sides measure about 27 m.

A broken statue of Shiva as Nataraja at elephanta caves
Shiva as Nataraja (Cosmic dancer)

Various temples are cut out of rock, along with columns. The space inside consists of a main chamber and has two lateral chambers, shrines and courtyards. Above the temples you can see the natural rock out of which the temples have been carved. The entrance provided is from three sides. What attracts the visitor most are the Trimurti, Shivalingam, Kalyansundara, Gangadhara, Uma maheswara and Ardhanarisara sculptures, which are all the forms of Lord Shiva.

To the east of the main temple is a courtyard, flanked by the secondary shrine. This temple contains six pillars at its entrance, four of which are free standing and two engaged. The entrance leads to a hall decorated with sculptured panels depicting legends from the Shiva Purana.

One statue shows Shiva bringing the Ganges River down to Earth, letting it trickle through his matted hair. He is also depicted as Yogisvara, lord of Yogis, seated on a lotus, and as Shiva Nataraja, the many-armed cosmic dancer.

Elephanta Caves. Elephanta Caves.
Rock cut statue at elephanta caves
Elephant Lingam shrine 1 at elephanta caves
Elephant Lingam shrine – photo by Sivaraj
Elephanta caves in india
Smaller Cave, Elephanta – Photo by Elroy Serrao

The Skeleton Lake of India

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The Skeleton Lake of India
In 1942 a British patrol in Roopkund, India made a shocking discovery. Approximately 17,000 feet above sea level, at the bottom of a small valley, was a frozen lake full of human skeletons. That summer, the ice melted to reveal even more skeletal remains, floating in the water and lying haphazardly around the lake’s edges. Had something horrible had happened here?

Scientists now believe they have finally solved the mystery of how and why the skeletons of over 200 people were found in a frozen lake in northern India.

Lake Roopkund is located in northern India along the border of Nepal at 4,800 meters (~16,000 ft) above sea level with edges covered in snow for most of the year. The water is rather shallow, only reaching a maximum depth of 2 meters, and frozen most of the year. The frozen climate at this altitude has aided significantly in the preservation of hair, soft tissue, and leather clothing, prompting the everyone to believe these were recent deaths. These skeletons were initially thought to be the bodies of Japanese soldiers who had died of exposure while travelling through India as part of a World War II invasion. More recent analyses conclude the remains were much older than anyone expected, dating them to approximately 850AD.
The significant amounts of soft tissue present first confused everyone. How could these skeletons be old if there was still flesh on the bones?
The significant amounts of soft tissue present first confused everyone. How could these skeletons be old if there was still flesh on the bones?

Who were these people? DNA evidence of the remains indicates there were two distinct groups – (1) a closely related or family group, and (2) a shorter group of local people, likely hired as porters and guides. Many artifacts (spears, leather shoes, rings, etc.) were found among remains, leading experts to conclude the family group was most likely made up of pilgrims heading through the valley with the help of the locals as guides.

What happened to them? It was initially proposed these people died as a result of exposure, perhaps trapped in an avalanche. But closer inspection of the bones reveals evidence of perimortem trauma on many of the skeletons. This is trauma that occurred at the time of death. Scientists apparently discovered a surprising pattern, in which the skulls and mostly bones of the upper body were inflicted with a similar type of trauma.

bones at skeleton lake in India
Remains showcased on a boulder along with artifacts–personal belongings such as leather shoes

Were they murdered? According to experts, the skeletons only showed signs of one type of perimortem wound. Furthermore, they did not have typical wounds indicative of the time period’s weaponry. Instead, experts determined the injuries were indicative of an impact from a large, rounded object.

A 2004 expedition to the lake revealed a new and unexpected scenario that could have led to the death of over 200 people. The prevalence of head and shoulder injuries led experts to wonder if their deaths were the result of something falling from above. Taking skeletal evidence and the cold environment into consideration, it is now proposed injuries were due to a sudden and severe hailstorm in which people were pelted with large hailstones (estimated 23 cm/9” diameter). Trapped in a valley with no shelter, there would have been no easy escape, thus resulting in this mysterious mass of skeletons. Their bodies remained hidden in the glacial valley, freezing and thawing for the next 1,200 years until their gruesome discovery.

Is this event really possible? It’s difficult to assess this traumatic scenario without seeing images of the vaguely described skeletal trauma. But a quick web search of hailstones reveals they can indeed reach sizes of 9 inches that experts proposed. The largest hailstone collected in the US measured 8 inches across and weighed in at almost 2 pounds. Despite some extreme sizes of hailstones, only 3 individuals have died in the US (in 3 separate storms).

Historical records indicate that the deadliest hailstorm occurred on April 30, 1888 in the northern districts of India, killing 230 people. The hailstones were reportedly as big as oranges, accumulating up to 2 feet high. Although rare, it appears these freak hailstorms with monstrous hailstones have a history of forming in the Deccan Plateau of India and in Bangladesh. Recently around January 31, 2013, a severe 20-minute hailstorm suddenly struck several villages in the state of Andhra Pradesh in southern India, killing 9 people. The short duration of storms may account for a minimal amount of trauma to the lower body.

skeleton lake at himalaya

The deaths at Rookpund Lake could very likely be the result of a freak hailstorm. Although they are quite rare, history indicates these hailstorms do have a higher occurrence in that particular area and have been known to produce small boulder-sized hailstones. Taking all of the evidence into consideration, it seems probable that a very short but intense hailstorm would have led to the death of ~200 individuals in 850AD, thus solving this curious mystery.

10,000-year-old cave paintings depicting aliens found in India

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10,000-year-old cave paintings depicting aliens found in India

An archeologist of India found 10000 years old paintings depicting Aliens and UFO in a Cave near Chhattisgarh, India. According to archaeologist JR Bhagat, these paintings have depicted aliens like those shown in Hollywood and Bollywood flicks and says they may serve as evidence that Earth was once visited by an advanced alien civilization.

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Real face of Gandhi Part 2

Mystery Of India
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Real face of Gandhi Part 2
In 1906, Gandhi cheered on the British as they waged a war on the black Zulus. He then volunteered for military service himself, attaining the rank of Sgt. Major in the British Army and assisting the war on blacks in every way he could.

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