A 250-Ton Rock In India That Has Defied Gravity For 1300 Years
It sits on a 45-degree slope, frozen in time. Ancient aliens? God? Formed Naturally?
This thing would have baffled the brilliant mind of Sir Isaac Newton had he learned about it in his time. The rock has been sitting on a 45-degree slope just on its tapered base, frozen in time for more than 1,300 years.
How can a 250-ton rock stand on such a small base of less than 4 sq. ft.?
It has also equally baffled scientists, who have no clue how the boulder came into existence and how it is able to balance itself on a slope. They say it’s like a glacial erratic that somehow, mysteriously, got stranded in a serendipitous position on a hill in the historic town of Mahabalipuram in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, where I am from. It is listed as a historical monument by the Archaeological Survey of India. Mahabalipuram is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The boulder gives an impression that it might roll down the hill at any moment, but it hasn’t moved an inch for centuries. It defies gravity on its two sides, making it look like a rock that has been glued onto the ground with house-building concrete. Except that it weighs more than 200 tonnes and its base is under 5 sq. ft. It’s physically and technically impossible to replicate such a structure, even with today’s advanced building machinery.
One of the first individuals to attempt to dislodge the round stone was the Pallava king, Narasimhavarman, who ruled southern India from 630 to 668 AD.
Then, in 1908, British India’s governor of Madras city, Arthur Havelock, is said to have used seven elephants to move it with no luck. He, not believing in the local legend and wanting to keep the city on its foothill safe from its unexpected roll down, took the measure of moving it with the strength of seven elephants. The elephants failed in their attempts.
During his recent visit to India, Chinese President Xi and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a visit to see the rock. You can see them holding hands in the picture below.
This place is also a tourist attraction for both Indians and foreigners. Tourists love to pose for pictures in front of the boulder that’s 6 meters high and 5 meters wide. Groups of adults usually try to use their collective force to dislodge it.
It seems to float and barely stands on a slope on top of a 1.2-meter (4-foot) high plinth, which is a naturally eroded hill and is said to have been in the same place for 1300 years.
What does Hindu mythology say?
The boulder is called Krishna’s butterball. Who’s Krishna? He is one of the many gods of the Hindu religion. As a baby, Krishna had the cheeky habit of stealing butter at home from the butter handi, and his mom often caught him. It is believed that the rock is nothing but a big dollop of Krishna’s butter, which he dropped from the sky when he was stealing, thus its name, Krishna’s butterball.
The boulder is also called Vaan Irai Kal. It’s a phrase in my native language, Tamil, which is one of the oldest languages in the world. The phrase in English would mean “Sky God’s Stone.”
More pictures and a video of the boulder
Final Thoughts
Geologists say the rock is simply a natural structure produced by erosion to make a ventifact. These rocks are generated mostly when erosion chips away at the sides of the rocks but does not reach the base.
Erosion sands off the region around the base, making it appear smooth and giving the impression that the boulder is tilting on the hillside. Even if pushed, it will not move or shake in the slightest. There’s also another school of geologists who claim that it’s theoretically impossible for such a structure to form through the above-mentioned natural phenomenon.
Others think it was placed there by the gods or alien entities thousands of years ago to demonstrate their power.
Whatever the reality is, such phenomena have always fascinated me greatly. What do you think of this rock? Do you think it’s man-made or put there by the ancient aliens who visited us long ago, or do you think it’s just a product of thousands of years of natural geological processes?
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