© 2019 ijrar june 2019, volume 6, issue 2 (e-issn … · 2020. 4. 17. · figure-2: damascus steel...

© 2019 IJRAR June 2019, Volume 6, Issue 2 www.ijrar.org (E-ISSN 2348-1269, P- ISSN 2349-5138)

IJRAR2004117 International Journal of Research and Analytical Reviews (IJRAR) www.ijrar.org 801

ANCIENT LOST TECHNOLOGIES

Arkapratim Changdar

Abstract: Since time immemorial human beings have been engaged in search of their own evolution under lights paved by different theories

and hypotheses. A civilization carves out an entire race, even sometimes more than one. Technologies are boons of a civilization based on

which a race upgrades itself and eventually these technologies spread over entire humanity for mankind. Although history has been witnessed

both constructive and destructive faces of technologies from distant past; some were for well being and sometimes used to quench conquering

and annexation thirsts of several national leaders, emperors and kings. In this paper, such incredible ancient technologies will be revealed

which have been lost under the remnants of ancient civilizations and impossible to retrieve on present day. If these technologies would have

existed today, the human race would have achieved different realm in technology. Based on historical literature review and documentation it

has been tried to find out significance and excellence of those ancient lost technologies; along with, reasons behind being disappeared forever

and impossible to retrieve have been discussed in this paper.

Index Terms- Evolution, Civilization, Technologies, Conquering, Impossible to Retrieve.

I. INTRODUCTION:

Ancient technologies always occupy a curious position in human minds. These amaze the human kind to make them thinking about such

astonishing achievements in ancient period. Today, in twenty first century people have invented several technologies to ease daily life and

livelihood. Technology comes out of necessity at first but nowadays out of comfort and luxury too. At present day, by the term 'technology'

people means gadgets, machineries, electronics and advanced equipments mainly. In ancient time, there were Lemuria, Atlantis and Tamil

civilizations which dated back more than 10,000 BC. People of those civilizations created amazing inventions behind which very high tech

mechanism used to work. Due to several surges of uplift and downfall those technologies have sunk under deep ocean of oblivion. Even Greek,

Roman, Chinese, Indus Valley, Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations also had made wonderful discoveries in different time periods of the

history. Those technologies were subjected to appreciation and criticism as well even in the then time. Some of those although have been

replicated by modern technologies but acutely lack in precision and performance. These technologies include sculptures, scripture, architecture,

knowledge, machineries, devices, scientific equipments, processes, instruments, weapons, artifacts and handicrafts. Such technologies which

if existed, would have brought a different dimension of revolution in human history. As technologies born from the cradle of civilization, it is

important to know about ancient civilizations of this world.

II. RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES:

Technologies always inspire to improvise, thus newer technologies are created by ameliorating existing problems. By studying lost technologies

one can get ideas to reinstall those by identical replication. For this, functioning of those technologies must be understood; unless there will be

no option to restore and reuse them. Ancient scholars and inventors discovered some amazing things which can be easily enviable for today's

technologies. Objectives of this study are-

i. To study the ancient civilizations of the world

ii. Trying to understand mechanisms of ancient lost technologies

iii. Tracing out the reasons behind the obliteration of those technologies

Based on these objectives an attempt has been made to understand those lost technologies and their significance in the then time.

III. METHODOLOGY:

This paper is based on secondary database which include literatures, scriptures and notes. A qualitative method of analysis has been chosen

for this research. Based on historical studies, literature and documentation a new horizon has been attempted to pave in regards of those

lost technologies.

IV. DISCUSSION:

http://www.ijrar.org/



IV.I Primeval Civilizations of the World:

History of oldest civilization on this planet dates back more than 50,000 BC. Oldest and primeval civilizations on earth are Tamil Civilization

(Kumari Kandam), Lemurian Civilization and Atlantis Civilization. Chronologically the order is also the same, from older to newer. Kumari

Kandam was a massive continent, located in Indian Ocean around 1.64 million years ago. The Hindu Religion was found by the ancient

people of Tamil Civilizations, who passed down their knowledge through the Vedic literature which is the backbone of Hinduism

(James I. Nienhuis, 1989). That massive continent used to be abode of most ancient Tamil people; also known as Kumari Nadu. The name

Kumari Kandam was first found in Skanda Purana. It is believed that Tamil Civilization was the cradle of all other civilizations. 1,700,000

years ago, due to a catastrophic under ocean lithological phenomenon the Kumari Kandam sank under the Indian Ocean and with this, took

end numbers of ancient miraculous technologies, scriptures and architectures with it under deep waters of Indian Ocean. Survivors did spread

all over landmasses in different parts of the world and new civilizations started coming in existence. Kumari Kandam ascended the ultimate

apex of technologies and architecture in a very long span of 500,000 years. It is also believed that kingdom of ancient demon king of Treta

Yuga, Ravana extended over a considerably large territory of Kumari Kandam. Kumari Kandam means virgin country, where lived some

of their earliest ancestors, such as king Nediyon, Bali, and Ravanna (James I. Nienhuis, 1989). After one million years of the demise of

Kumari Kandam, Lemurian Civilization was considered to be a part of Tamil Civilization. Variously referred to as "Lemuria" or the "Indo-

African Continent," this land mass was thought to have included parts of present- day southern Africa and India and may even have

stretched all the way through what are currently the islands of Southeast Asia to Australia (Sumathi Ramaswamy, 1999). It also used

to influence a massive area in Pacific Ocean in scattered form and existed for a very long period. Atlantis Civilization also existed during

almost same time (500 years later). Atlantis was situated in between Kumari Kandam and Lemuria. Interestingly enough, the only place so

far unclaimed among the literally hundreds of sitings of Atlantis is Indonesia. Even more exactly, the place we have in mind here is

now sunken lowlands of the region, better called Austronesia (Arysio Santos, 2005). Atlantis and Lemurians were the descendents of

primeval Tamil Civilization. Lemurian civilization existed between 10,000 BC to 6,000 BC and Atlantis civilization existed between 9,000

BC to 5,500 BC. These three civilizations are the most ancient on the world and also cradles of most advanced and astounding technologies

ever discovered by the human beings. Another similarity is that, all these three civilizations existed in almost same land which exist no more

on the world map, termed as "Lost Continent".

Figure-1: Map of Primeval and Ancient Civilizations and the Lost Continent (Kumari Kandam)




(Source: Developed by the Author based on Literature and Book Review)

If Tamil civilization was the cradle of all other subsequent civilizations, it means all incredible technologies which were considered to be gifts

of different civilizations are actually belong to Tamil Civilization. After 1000 years of the complete demise of Atlantis i.e. around 4,500 BC

ancient civilizations started carving. During this period of 1000 years there was no civilization in entire world. It could be considered as a gap

era in the process of creation and formation.




IV.II Ancient Civilizations of the World:

Civilizations which came into existence since 4,500 BC are the ancient civilizations of this world. This includes a pretty long list of names,

viz. Mesopotamia, Egyptian, Minoan, Indus-Valley, Mayan, Jomon, Greek, Chinese, Roman, Aztec and Inca civilizations. None of these was

older than 4,500 BC. These civilizations were all river based civilizations. Descendents of primeval Tamil people who migrated in different

parts of the world after the complete demise of primeval civilizations established these ancient civilizations. Although most of the recent

discoveries of ancient technologies have taken place in these fore stated civilization sites, by origin those are all Tamil, Lemurian or Atlantian.

IV.III Lost Technologies:

There are end number of technologies which have been lost under the sand of time and civilizations. As per some important scriptures and

scholarly literatures there were certain technologies in ancient or primeval periods which could have surprised modern technology of today.

These have been found from different parts of different regions on the earth. Here based on literatures some noteworthy examples are going to

be cited which could probably change human history if existed today or have been revived.

1. Damascus Steel:

An amazing metal made out of a peculiar amalgamation of steel, sand, carbon and an unknown element (lost) in ancient Damascus, capital of

Syria. Weapons made of Damascus steel used to be exceptionally light but unthinkably razor sharp. If a child would have picked and ran it, it

could have cut a fully grown human being in just one slash. It was used in Middle East during 1100-1700 AD.

Figure-2: Damascus Steel

(Source: Google Images)

Swords made from Damascus steels have become renowned because of (i) the uncontested retention of their cutting edge, (ii) the beauty

of their characteristic surface patterns and (iii) fascinating legends concerning the way these materials were manufactured (Werner

Kochmann, 2003). Raw material for this incredible thing was Wootz Steel which used to be imported from Sri Lanka and India. Weapons

made of Damascus steel used to have patterned designs on it. Carbon nano-tubes were believed to be used in Damascus steel. Several attempts

have been made to revive the technology of Damascus steel but every time experiments failed. There is no clear explanation available about

mysterious disappearance of the formula of making Damascus steel. In 1750 the technology was lost forever. There are some theories behind

it. First, there was shortage in supply of raw materials from Sri Lanka and India. That's why iron smiths stopped producing the steel. Second,

there was actually no technology to make Damascus steel. It was made by a mistake committed by an iron smith. In that particular lot Damascus

steel blades were made. But the same iron smith couldn't reconstruct it because he did it by mistake, thus didn't remember the mistake he made

and how. Thus, Damascus steel were never produced after the production of that particular lot of blades.

2. Antikythera Mechanism:

The most ancient analog computer of the world was The Antikythera. It was discovered in 1900 from sea bottom near Antikythera of Greece.

Initially it was very difficult to make any idea that what the device used to be functioning. After meticulous inspection it was found that the

device used to be made of bronze. 30 different size gear wheels were found in the device. Those wheels were related to zodiac signs. Initially

it was considered to be a kind of Astrolabe. Named after its place of discovery in 1901 in a Roman shipwreck, the Antikythera Mechanism

is technically more complex than any known device for at least a millennium afterwards (Freeth and Bitsakis, 2006).

Figure-3: Antikythera Mechanism





It is proved that this amazing mechanism is at least 2000 years old. The mechanism predicted lunar and solar eclipses on the basis of

Babylonian arithmetic progression cycles (Freeth and Bitsakis, 2006). It measured movements of the sun and the moon and their relation

with planetary movements also. In total there were 82 fragments or parts of Antikythera were discovered. The researchers concluded for now

that the mechanism was an ancient clock to calculate Lunar phases and Solar years and this makes the Antikythera, the oldest analog computer

on this planet. It is still unknown that how this technology was lost 2000 years back.

3. Vedic Vimanas:

Primeval Hindu Vedic technologies used to be highest level of all technologies. Even today, modern world doesn't have any alternate to those.

"Vimanas" means Aircrafts. In several Vedic scriptures mentions of different types of vimanas are found. For example, Demon king Ravana

of Lanka used to have a "Pushpak Vimana" which was able to fly at hypersonic speed (1000x faster than sound) and also it could change its

size. Mention of several other forms of Vedic vimanas are found in "Vimanika Sashtra". It is sure that in those primeval vimana technologies,

mercury propulsion system were used. Wright brothers may be considered as the inventors of scientific aircrafts but, in 1895, eight years

earlier, the Sanskrit scholar S.B.Talpade designed a basic aircraft called Marutsakthi based on Vedic technology and it took off

unmanned before a large audience in the Chowpathy beach of Bombay. Talpade was the first creator of an aircraft in modern times

(Shivanandam .M, 2015). Even before talpade, Maratha king Chhatrapathi Sahoji also commissioned building an aircraft by following Vedic

vimana mechanism. Several small ancient replicas of Vedic vimanas have been discovered. When those models were replicated and bigger

versions were made, those aircrafts were able to fly even more flawlessly than modern aircrafts. The Rig Veda, the oldest document of the

human race includes references to the following types of Vimanas- Jalayan, Kaara, Tritala, Tri-Chakra Ratha, Vayu Ratha, Vidyut

Ratha (Shivanandam .M, 2015).




Figure-4: Designs of Primeval Vedic Vimanas (Aircrafts)


Behind the disappearance of these ancient aircraft technologies it is believed that "Navaratna Sabha" of emperor Ashoka was responsible. Like

king Vikramaditya Ashoka also had a secret society consisting of nine anonymous persons whose identities have not been disclosed in any

literature or printed document. Ashoka gave nine books of indispensible and incredible knowledge to these nine people and ordered them to

protect those so that wrong or bad persons couldn't get. Those nine books were respectively on- War strategy, Physiological warfare,

Microbiology, Alchemy, Aliens, Aeronautics, Matters of Universe, Laser technology and Social sciences. The Indian Emperor Asoka started

a “Secret Society of the Nine Unknown Men”, great Indian scientists who catalogued the many sciences (Shivanandam .M, 2015). Here

the sixth book is believed to be none other than ancient "Vimanika Sashtra". It was written by Maharishi Bharadwaja in late Satya Yuga. It is

speculated that may be the person who was responsible for protecting the sixth book might have gone to a country where the book was lost

and Wright brothers might have got some pages of that book, based on which they have invented aircraft later.

4. Greek Fire:

One of the world's oldest fire weapon, ancestor of Napalm was the Greek Fire. It was a kind of 'sticky fire' or 'gel fire' which used to burn even

in water or underwater. No enemy could dodge the Greek Fire. This dangerous weapon was used by Byzantium Empire to protect their kingdom

from enemy invasion. It could also refer to a tube through which liquids could be projected under pressure, as a very clear description

in the Poliorfceftka of Apollodorus (c. 130 ad) makes clear. In the context of liquid fire, it appears to have the specific meaning of a

hose or tube through which or from which the liquid fire was projected (Elizabeth Jeffreys, 2006). The fire was spitted out through bronze

tubes towards enemies, like missiles and enemy ships used to catch fire which was inextinguishable. It was used mostly in 11th century AD.

Greek fire could have been thrown towards enemies in many ways. Sometimes it was poured into jars and were thrown to enemies like a

grenade or a "Molotov Cocktail". It was even used in a form of flamethrower or a siphon.




Figure-5: Greek Fire


Greek fire served Byzantium empire for more than 700 years as a weapon of mass destruction. Even it became so important for the empire that

the then period there used to be a proverb renowned in Byzantium empire that, three things must never reach in enemy hands- imperial regalia,

royal princess and Greek fire. It was decleared by Emperor Romanos II. ‘Liquid fire’, the ‘secret weapon’ of Byzantium, has remained a

fascination for many students of the medieval eastern Roman empire, and its exact workings are still the subject of heated debate

(Elizabeth Jeffreys, 2006). Composition of Greek fire is still under mist because the actual technology to prepare it is lost. After several

ventures for years a replicated version of Greek fire was prepared but it was not that effective as the original one, stated in scriptures. Greek

fire is speculated to be a peculiar mixture of petroleum, cedar raisin, lime, pitch, bitumen, sulfur and an unknown, highly inflammable plasma

substance.

5. Column of India:

India is not even lagging behind in terms of jaw dropping ancient technologies which are mysteries today. One of the exquisite examples is the

"Column of India". It's an iron pillar situated in Delhi. It is also known as "Ashoka Pillar". It is 23 feet 8 inch tall (7.2 metre) and 16 inch in

diameter. It's a cylindrical pillar made of 98 per cent wrought iron. Construction of this pillar dates back to 375-415 AD. It weighs more than

6 tonne (6000 kg). the pillar is covered by Sanskrit inscriptions from top to bottom. The iron pillar at Delhi has attracted the attention of

archaeologists and corrosion technologists as it has withstood corrosion for the last 1600 years (R. Balasubramaiam, 2000). Since last

one and a half millennium the iron pillar is standing straight without a dot of rusting. It is being speculated that behind this toughness of the

iron pillar, the reason is lots of phosphorus content in wrought iron. It is also believed that iron the then smiths used phosphorus wood particles

instead of like unlike today's iron smiths. The Delhi iron pillar is testimony to the high level of skill achieved by the ancient Indian iron

smiths in the extraction and processing of iron (R. Balasubramaniam, 2000). This mysterious technology to process such incredible form

of iron is lost forever and has not been still retrieved despite of lots of attempts made by modern researchers.

Figure-6: Iron Pillar of India





6. Lycurgus Cup:

Keeping every reader in a stunt for a couple of moment, the Lycurgus Cup can raise a serious question in the mind, "Why a Cup?, what's

special in that?". Yes, a cup with ancient astounding nano-fiber technology, found from remnants of Roman civilization. Lycurgus cup was a

vessel probably used for drinking purpose in ancient Roman empire. It is decorated in openwork with a frieze showing scenes of the myth

of King Lycurgus ( D.J. Barber and I.C. Freestone, 2000). Lycurgus cup was made of an advanced dichroic glass. On that based on

nanotechnology fibers were used manually which used to have thickness of 1/1000th times of human hair. Due to implementation of such

amazing technology, the cup could manipulate light. If light was put on it from the front it lighted green and if light was focused from its

backside, it used to become demonic red. Further investigation on this made researchers to state, the optical properties of the glass were

caused by the presence of finely dispersed particles of gold, probably alloyed with silver (D.J. Barber and I.C. Freestone, 2000). The

nano-fiber technology used in Lycurgus cup is lost forever. Still on today, modern science gets astonished that how it was possible more than

one thousand years ago to make such micro fiber on the glass which can manipulate light. In this light it can be envisaged that Romans were

pioneer nano-technicians. Glass used in Lycurgus cup was impregnated with gold and silver particles with diameter of 50 nanometer.

Figure-7: Lycurgus Cup


7. Baghdad Battery:

It is commonly accepted that electricity was discovered in 1600. In the year of 1752 Ben Franklin ran an experiment with the help of a kite, a

key and a storm to prove that lightning in the sky and tiny electric spark were the same thing. Discovery of electricity took place between 250-

224 BC. Baghdad battery is a ceramic pot inside which there is a copper tube and an iron rod, discovered in 1936. The ancients used three

types of plating: foil gilding, gold leaf and fire gilding. These methods were used until the recent invention (reinvention?) of

electroplating (D.E. Von Handorf, 2002). Baghdad battery used to look like a fire clay spindle shaped pot which actually was hypothesized

to be a power cell. Inside Baghdad battery, the iron rod is put inside the copper tube and it was filled with electrolyte solution. The top mouth

of the battery was closed by a stopper made of asphalt.




Figure-8: Baghdad Battery


It is also envisaged that even the Baghdad battery was not the oldest form of power cell. Inside the pyramids of Tutenkhamun, Khufu and

inside Sphinx in Egypt, sculptures denoting use of electricity have been discovered. There were total four such vessels were found. First three

Baghdad batteries had copper tubes inside. Fourth one was different; instead of copper tube there was a material like 'Papyrus'. By following

the exact technology, two replicas have been made by the scientists and surprisingly, those worked.

8. The Telharmonium:

Though this technology is not ancient, still it was an astonishment during early 1900 and even today. Telharmonium was an organ like

instrument, believed to be the first electronic musical instrument in the world. It was massive in size and tonewheels were used in this device

to create synthetic musical notes and through wires transmitted to speakers. Thaddues Cahill invented this amazing musical instrument in 1897.

Over a network of telephone lines, Cahill could transform music from his central station to tens of thousands of places at once (Reynold

Weidenaar, Magic Music from The Telharmonium, 1995). Cahill made three telharmoniums initially. One of which weighed 200 ton. It

was almost of the size of a considerably big room. It was collection of number of keyboards and foot pedals through which the performer can

manipulate and reproduce sounds of other pipe instruments like flute, clarinets and bassoons. It had two massive power dynamos to function

as a sound amplifier.

Figure-9: The Telharmonium


Cahill concluded that some from telephone receiver could serve as a vibrating body to produce the sound, so all he needed to contrive

was an electrical current containing the various notes (Reynold Weidenaar, Magic Music from The Telharmonium, 1995). After the

first exhibition of the Telharmonium it was appreciated very much, in fact, people started demanding this amazing synthesizer to be played at

every public places and so on. Initially Telharmonium was a massive success. It was far ahead of its time; Telharmonium used to consume

very high amount of power which was straining the then power grids. Due to this, Telharmonium came with a whopping price tag of 200,000




USD in early 1900; which was the biggest reason of inability to produce it for large scale demands. Thus, eventually Telharmonium was

obsolete and its building techniques also lost with the death of Cahill. Today only three those models are existing, they do not sound, those

mind blowing amplified metallic music is not heard today.

9. Ancient Indian Temples:

9.1 Jagannathdeva Temple, Puri, Odisha: This temple is one of the most mysterious temples of India, exhibiting astounding expertise of

ancient jaw dropping technologies which one ca not even imagine of using today. This temple is dedicated to Lord Narayana (Jagannatha).

Lord Jagannath transcends all forms and is beyond the limits of an icon. Cult and religious diversities have confluence in this ancient

deity which can possibly save the world when in despair (Brajabandhu Bhatta, 2011). There are some facts regarding technologies used

in this temple. First, Aircrafts can't fly over this temple directly, their courses are always deflected automatically once they enter temple

periphery air space. Second, On the top of the temple there is a flag which always fly against wind direction. Third, there is also a wheel at the

top of the temple which is made of "Asthadhathu". It can be seen from any corner of the city of Puri. Fourth, the height of the temple's dome

is 214 feet which is impossible to see standing at the bottom of the temple. Mysteriously, the dome creates no shadow at any point throughout

daylight. Fifth, It is said by some scholars that Lord Jagannath is associated with the sea from different angles (Brajabandhu Bhatta,

2011). The main entrance to the inside of temple is mysterious. The temple is at the vicinity of sea, so sounds of sea waves can be heard always

from the temple; but once one cross the main arch to enter the temple, sea sound comes to a silence, again after coming out sea sound becomes

audible.

Figure-10: Jagannathdeva Temple, Puri, Odisha


Sixth, surprisingly, no birds are found sitting on the temple's dome; even the adjacent parts of the dome are devoid of any bird movements.

Seventh, total 800 workers of the temple are engaged in preparing the delicious food (Mahaprasadam) of temple which is made of rice, milk,

nuts, raisins, coconuts and sugar. Apart from this lots of food are also prepared (Chappan Bhog). Kitchen of this temple is the most mysterious

part than anything. To prepare Chappan Bhog and Mahaprasadam pots are stacked vertically one on another and due to a mysterious reason,

the food of the topmost pot gets cooked first, whereas, it should start from bottom to top. This food and prasada never get perished. This

amazing technology is unexplained till date. Devotees call this miracle, some intellectuals go with denial. Above of all there must be a secret

technology behind it. Lastly, there is one particular man who change the flag on the top of dome every day and he climbs the dome backward

in some parts instead of frontward. These are some unexplainable mysteries regarding this ancient temple. Here ancient technologies had been

used to defend this temple from outside attacks and calamity causes. No science can explain these technologies as they can't be recreated

because they are lost in time.

9.2 Brihadisvara Temple, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu: This majestic temple is another prominent evidence of astounding ancient technology and

architecture which is impossible to repeat even by best engineers nowadays. It was built in between 985-1014 AD, during the reign of Rajaraja

Chola-I. The dark pradakshinapatha (the circumambulatory passage around the sanctum) was embellished by the king with




extraordinary frescos, which are next best to the murals of Ajanta in the art of India (P.S. Sriraman, 2010). This thousand years old

temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva. Architecture of Brihadisvara temple refreshes the expertise of ancient Tamil architects and technicians.

From base to top elevation this temple is 217 feet tall. Apart from flawless, outstanding sculptures and design there are some mysterious facts

associated with Bhihadisvara temple which increase the excitement about the then technologies by marks.

Figure-11: Brihadisvara Temple, Thanavur, Tamil Nadu

(Source: Google Earth Pro Imagery)

First, the topmost dome of the temple weighs around 80 ton. It's a single gigantic rock from where jaw dropping sculptures have been created.

The rock is separate from the rest of the dome. So during that era there was flawless technology to lift an 80 ton rock at the elevation of 217

feet; this phenomenon amazes people. It is one of the largest South Indian temples and an exemplary example of a fully realized Dravidian

architecture (K. Mangayarkarasi, 2019). Second, no cementing materials had been used in construction of this entire temple. Temple was totally built on sound geometry. Blocks were put in extreme geometrically accurate manner and after stacking such blocks one after another

this Brihadesvara temple were constructed. It is symbolizing the pride of ancient Indian Vedic Mathematics. Fortified walls around the temple

are additions of 16th century. Today, repeating of such amazing technology is impossible as they are also lost.

9.3 Kailash Temple, Ellora, Aurangabad, Maharashtra: This marvelous creation by ancient architects of India is still standing with pride in

Ellora caves of Maharashtra. Kailash temple is devoted to Lord Shiva. It was built during the reign of Krishna-I, Rashtrakuta Dynasty, between

756-773 AD. From top to bottom, this temple is 107 feet high. It took 18 years to finish the temple. There are some interesting facts and

technologies behind the creation of this amazing temple. First, Kailash temple bears an unuttered but very painful history of its construction as

this temple is one of the most weirdest and astoundingly designed temples of India. This temple is located at lower ground from surface; i.e. it

is below normal surface as it had been sculpted by architects by cutting and removing stones from top to bottom. Indian Hindu temple

architecture are not only the abode of God and place of worship, but they are also the cradle of knowledge, art, architecture and

culture (Shweta Vardia, 2008).




Figure-12: Kailash Temple, Ellora, Aurangabad, Maharashtra


Second, out of total 34 caves in Ellora, Kailash temple is located at cave no.16. this is the largest cave out of all 34 Hindu, Buddhist and Jain

caves. Interestingly, the temple was constructed starting from its rear portion to the front. The entire temple had been carved out from one

single rock. Third, as per the evidences and archaeologists, every day 5 tons of stones used to be removed from here after the sculpting and no

region even within 100 km radius doesn't have same kind of rocks availability. Astonishingly those removed rock chips or shattered rocks were

never found nearby. The main purpose of the early building art in the Indian sub-continent was the representation of the existing

religious perception of the people in a tangible form. Therefore early Indian architecture in the form of various sacred monuments is

essentially a representation of its religious beliefs (Shweta Vardia, 2008). Fourth, time to time several rulers, starting from Mughals and

British have tried to destroy this temple by hammering, shelling and other methods of demolitions available in the then time. But none of them

got success even warping down a small portion of this mighty temple. This shows the strength and maturity of ancient Indian engineering and

technology.

9.4 Sun Temple, Konark, Odisha: Another ancient masterpiece from Odisha, representing unthinkable technological and engineering

advancement during ancient era. This temple is dedicated to Lord Sun (Suryadeva). The temple resembles to the chariot of Lord Sun with 24

gigantic wheels and 7 horses. as the area of the temple is very large, from standing inside temple territory, it's impossible to judge the shape of

the temple. It can only be seen from aerial view of the temple. It was constructed by King Narasimhadeva between 1238 and 1264 AD. The

antiquity of Konark as a famous kshetra (pilgrimage center) for sun worship, however, is substantiated in numerous texts such as the

Brahma Purana, the Tirtha Chintamani and the Kapila Samhita (Benudhar Patra, 2006). Initially the temple was 200 feet tall but today

the height of temple is 100 feet. Historians and Archaeologists have put different opinions regarding this decay, whether it is due to natural

calamities or due to Muslim invasion is controversial. There are number of facts proving amazing technology of 13th century regarding this

temple. These facts are astonishing and interesting as well. First, the temple used to be called "Black Pagoda" by British sailors. It is situated

very close to Bay of Bengal.




Figure-13: Sun Temple, Konark, Odisha


During initial time of its era, this temple used to have two identical hyper-power magnets or lodestones. One was at the top of the dome (this

magnet weighed 52 ton) and other was sealed under the ground perpendicular to the other one. The statue of Lord Sun was made of an unknown

metal which used to have iron content. Due to intense magnetism the idol of Lord Sun used to float and this was a jaw dropping technology

during that period and even today. Legend says, the magnet on the dome was used as a weapon, it distracted all ships of Portuguese fleet

coming towards the coast and due to its super massive gravity ships used to face catastrophic wrecks more often. To save their navigation and

ships Portuguese destroyed the upper lodestone and took it with them. They could not find another one so they completely sealed the main

entrance to the main temple. This also caused the collapse of main temple structure. Second, from aerial view this temple resembles to the

chariot of Lord Sun. The name Konark like Bhubaneswar is in most likelihood derived from the name of the presiding deity Konark,

which means the 'Arka' Sun of 'Kona' corner (Benudhar Patra, 2006). If one notice, a clear image of a chariot, pulled by seven horses and

with twenty four gigantic wheels can be identified. Walls of this temple are full of sculptures of different cosmic poses of Lord Sun and several

associates. Third, legends and local people say that the arrangements of different 'mandirs' in the premises of the temple was done in such an

amazing way that sunlight used to reflect from one mandir to another, seemed to be that the 'light is dancing'. These mesmerizing technology

and engineering can't be recreated even with the help of modern days' facilities and equipments.

9.5 Shri Padmanabhaswamy Temple, Trivandrum, Kerala: This is the only temple in the list which depicts more signs of miracles, spells and

power of asceticism rather than technology and engineering. That doesn't mean that this temple doesn't have technological and engineering

soundness; but here belief, supernatural powers and spell overshadow technology and engineering. In this temple, really supernaturalism exists.

Apart from this, Shri Padmanabhaswamy temple is the richest temple in the world. This temple is dedicated to Lord Narayana. The temple was

built by Maharaja of Travancore about 1200 years ago; although, mention about this temple even found in scriptures of 500-300 BC, during

Sangam period of literature. The biggest centers of question regarding this temple are the treasures, mysterious door of vault-B and the idol of

Lord Vishnu. First, as stated earlier, this is the world's richest temple in terms of net worth valuation. In the secret basement of the temple six

secret vaults were discovered. Five vaults out of those (A, C, D, E, F) have been already opened by the government of India. Vault A has been

opened once in 1930, after that in 2011. Vaults C to F have been opened time to time. But the vault-B has never been opened. The temple

amassed much of its riches in the early eighteenth century. At the time, the Maharaja of Travancore was battling local chieftains (Jake

Halpern, 2012). Whatever wealth found from vaults A, C, D, E and F belong to Lord Vishnu. As per the constitution, deity can have wealth

but should also have a legal guardian. This role was played by Travancore Royal Family for years. Total valuation of wealth (gold, jewels,

gems, ornaments) till now is whopping 24 billion USD. With this amount of wealth, India will be largest economy in the world, India can

purchase several island countries, 15,000 km national highway can be constructed, all districts of India can have one each high tech modern

hospitals and last but not the least, if this amount is distributed among Indian population, each person will get at least INR 20,000. Apart from

these, wealth of the temple also possesses historical values which can't be compromised for monetary valuation.




Figure-14: Shri Padmanabhaswamy Temple, Trivandrum, Kerala


Second, The biggest question comes, that how did this immense amount of wealth come in the secret vaults at the basement of the temple.

Legends and locals say that Travancore kings did quests and they made several states sovereign but never did wrong with defeated kings and

their families. This amount of wealth have been collected from revenues and of course royal treasury of royal family hereditarily. Other sets

of people claim the wealth to be treasure of Lord Vishnu and Mahalakshmi Mata. Third, the main idol of Lord Narayan is made of 12,008

Shaligram stones. This extremely rare specimen are found only at the banks of Kaligandak river, Nepal. It is astonishing that how that much

rocks were transported from Nepal to Trivandrum almost one millennium back. Fourth, vault-B of the entire treasure has been remained

unopened since distant part. On the door of this vault two massive serpent sculptures are embossed which symbolize danger, one who opens

the vault will have to face the wrath and devastations. It is also confirmed that the door of vault-B has been closed by a powerful Mantra

because surprisingly like other vaults this one doesn't have lock outside but still no one could open the door. From the other side of the door

profound sound of sea water has been recorded which clearly means that if this vault-B is opened forcefully then entire temple will ruin and

the city will be completely flooded. These are the astounding technologies and architectures of ancient Indian temples which can't be restored

anymore.

10. The Library of Alexandria:

Although it's not a technology but the Library of Alexandria secures a place in this list. It was established in 300 BC in Alexandria of Egypt.

It was the time of Ptolemy. This library was packed with full of knowledge- artifact, technology, engineering, space sciences, mathematics and

so on. Behind this creation, motive was to built a universal library where creations of all intellects were planned and collected of the then

period, i.e. Ptolemaic era. But where did such a concept originate? While there are indications of earlier attempts, the first lasting

attempt, and the one that has become fixed in the cultural consciousness of western civilization is that of Alexander the Great (Philips

Heather, 2010). A commentary of Aristophanes written by John Tzetzes who was a polymath of Byzantium, had been found regarding the

existence of this dream library. During that era it was the first time when knowledge all over the world were documented properly for the first

time in a single place. The library became so important and resourceful that it attracted pools of scholars like Aristophanes, Zenodotus, Hesiod,

Homer and so on.




Figure-15: Library of Alexandria, Egypt


All legends, scholars and visitors whomsoever used to visit Alexandria, had to submit their books and scrolls to the library so that a copy could

be made out of it and thus the collection of the library became colossal. This golden period came to perish in first century AD. One day the

library was caught into a vicious fire and all one million scrolls and books were charred up within a snap. There are controversies regarding

the fire. It was said that the fire was set by Julius Caesar by mistake. Actually to prevent enemy invasion through waters Julius was setting fire

in some of his wrecked ships but accidentally the fire went out of control and reached the library and then the devastation happened. Some

sources state that the invader Aurelian Theodosius-I and Arab conqueror Amr ibn al 'Aas did set the library into fire. With this devastating fire

number of documents and knowledge were lost from us forever; nobody would never know that what were those scrolls and books were on.

11. The Voynich Manuscript (VMS):

Voynich manuscript is a hand written codex with mysterious illustrations with pictures and an unknown writing system. Language of this

manuscript has not been decode by anyone on this planet. Carbon dating report of the manuscript confirms its time around 15th century. It has

been probably originated from Italy. The manuscript was first discovered by Wilfrid Voynich who was a book seller of Poland. It was found

unnamed, torn, with missing pages. It was named after voynich. Some of the pages were folded charts and diagrams. Total length of the

manuscript is 240 pages. Voynich manuscript has been studied by many cryptographers and codebreakers of Europe and America but no one

succeeded to read the mysterious language of it. Approximately 38,000 words are written in entire piece of work. Unsupervised systems for

learning natural language would be great tools for the analysis of texts like the Voynich manuscript, since systems like these can

discover great hierarchical structure in texts, using just the raw data (Peter Bloem, 2006). It is believed that the language is divine and

alien in origin. Unsupervised learning technique is believed to be very useful to decode VMS because in this technique undeciphered

manuscripts and data with truly unknown structure can be studied in this method. But it is doubtful that how much it would be useful for VMS.




Figure-16 The Voynich Manuscript


Total 20,000 characters are there in Voynich manuscript. There are supposedly two main procedures to decode Voynich manuscript- MEX

and Adios. MEX functions to identify meaningful ways to channelize the identification process whereas, Adios uses MEX to discover

hierarchical structure in a text. MEX is an algorithm and Adios is a system. One of the advantages of Adios for this kind of approach, is

that Adios can generate a histogram of how sequences are broken up into various types of patterns (Peter Bloem, 2006). Till date no

scholar have able to explain that what is exactly written in that 240 pages long manuscript, who wrote this and what those pictures literally

mean; all answers are still under dense mist.

12. Vitrum Flexile:

Vitrum Flexile was a astonishing creation by an ancient Roman craftsman. It was a pot made of pure glass but the glass was malleable. It means

the glass was impossible to break by anything. Vitrum, the classical silicate glass, is an inorganic, cross linked polymeric material in a

non-ordered non-crystalline, so-called amorphous state(Gunter Lattermann, 2017). It could be wrapped, twisted, bended and out-shaped

but could not be broken. The craftsman had incredible knowledge of alchemy. It is believed that vitrum flexile was originated in Egypt. One

day the craftsman made a pitcher of vitrum flexile and took it to the emperor, Tiberius for exhibition. After lots of trials no one, including the

emperor could break the pitcher. It was out-shaped but the craftsman brought back it into true shape just with the help of a hammer, right in

front of the eyes of emperor and associates. Seeing this incredible technology the emperor was astonished but simultaneously got a bit scared

too. He asked the craftsman whether the procedure of making such durable glass is known by anyone of the kingdom except the craftsman or

not. Craftsman confirmed that no one does except him. The emperor feared that such a material would be more precious than gold, thus

reducing drastically the value of the precious metal (Gunter Lattermann, 2017). The emperor, without further delay, to keep this

technology secret forever ordered decapitation of the craftsman with immediate effect. After the death of the craftsman this incredible

technology was lost in oblivion forever.




Figure-17: Vitrum Flexile


13. Phiastos Disk:

Phiastos disk was discovered from Phiastos palace of Greek island in Crete in the year of 1908. Carbon dating report dates back to 200 BC. It

used to made of clay with undeciphered symbols imprinted on both sides. Diameter is 16 cm and width is 1 cm. the disk is believed to be the

oldest version of print media. There are 241 such undeciphered symbols have been found on the both sides of the disk. Although many

symbols look like pictorial images of everyday life a walking human, a fish, a flying bird the disk's "message" has not yet (July 2009)

been deciphered; there have been many suggestions, but none has been found valid and approved (Wolfgang Reckzo, 2009). All symbols

have been categorized into boxes for ease of identification. On the A side of the disk there are 31 boxes and on the B side there are 30 boxes.

Patterns of boxes and symbols are same on the both sides of the disk.

Figure-18: Phiastos Disk


Rims of the both sides of the disk have 12 boxes each and each box contains 3-4 symbols. The side-A of the disk contains petal at the center

which shows astronomical eclipse information which actually belongs to a complete Saros Cycle. A saros is a period of 223 synodic months

which is actually 6585.321 days. By this solar and lunar eclipses can be predicted.

14. Ulfberht or Vlfberht Blades:

Like Damascus steel, Ulfberht Blades or Swords were also very light weight but razor sharp swords which also used to be light, quick and had

great precision. Though it is pronounced as "Ulfberht" but the specimens which were discovered had inscription on them "+VLFBERHT+" or

"+VLFBERH+T". unlike Damascus steel, Ulfberht blade didn't have patterns; they used to have inscriptions and a deep cut thalweg. These

swords were swords used by Vikings. Its orgin dated back to 9th century AD. During the early Middle Ages in Europe, steel for swords

was obtained via the bloomery process. In this process, iron ore was heated with charcoal and reduced to form a solid product, a bloom

of iron (parts of which might be steel) together with a slag, which became a liquid at around 1200 °C (Allen Williams, 2005). This

amazing fine sword is considered to be link between Viking Swords and Knights' Swords of Europe. Unlike Damascus steel, Ulfberht swords




were not result of an unknown mistake in alchemy but it was in production throughout a time span of 300 years. So it was definitely larger in

terms of production than Damascus steel swords.

Figure-19: Ulfbercht / Vlfbercht Blades:


First trace of Ulfberht swords was found in Rhineland areas of Europe. Astonishingly the largest concentration of this sword was found in

Scandinavia, Baltic region. As the inscription is concerned, it can be envisaged that, inscription of "+VLFBERH+T" or "+VLFBERHT+" is

symbolizing the manufacturer of these special swords or blades. As it is confirmed that these blades were produced for 300 long years, it is

possible that VLFBERHT was a family of iron smith who used to manufacture these blades. With the disappearance of this family, the secret

of making such fine sword which could give a tough competition to the legendary Damascus steel was lost.

V. CONCLUSION:

Motive behind discussing about such things in this paper is to understand that how rich and powerful was Tamil civilization and how astonishing

and jaw dropping their those technologies would be which have not even been known even by ancient people. As Tamil civilization was the

cradle of humanity, after the disappearance of Kumari Kandam supercontinent, most of technologies were lost. The above discussed

technologies were just a part of the iceberg peak. Those were the residuals of pre-existing hyper technologies, predecessors of which were

actually Tamil by origin. Such amazing technologies have always been proved boons for people. Initially this statement would seem to sound

like a false one. But, it is not a false one, instead of that it's a fact. Problems with technologies have been always associated with powerful

leaders, kings, emperors and so on, in every time scale. Normal people of a kingdom always got benefitted from newly invented technologies

or new knowledge. It's the leaders, kings and emperors who after seeing the miracles of such technologies got scared and instead of protecting

the technology, they destroyed those by either finishing the artisans or by destroying entire inventions along with the procedures. They never

thought twice before doing this that, if they could protect those technologies, in future those will ease human livelihood and also will inspire

to build advanced facelifts. Only being scared that those technologies shouldn't go to enemy's hands they completely destroyed amazing

creations by different artisans in different periods. Thus several ancient technologies have lost from us forever. This paper deals with an account

of most renowned technologies of different times which are lost today and can't be retrieved anymore. From this we can understand that what

did we lose and what we could have if those technologies would have existed. Here only 14 amazing technologies have been considered but

apart from these there are lot more technologies which once existed on this planet and amaze us today by their legends and myths. Civilizations

on earth have been divided into Primeval and Ancient categories. Primeval civilizations are much older than ancient civilizations and those

were technologically more advanced. After the demise of primeval civilizations, several year later when ancient civilizations came to existence,

people got residuals and remnants of primeval technologies. Those technologies had amazing mechanisms with flawless result giving

capability. Some of those technologies have been retrieved by modern science but counterparts don't function like original one used to. Some

of retrieved technologies are- Zhang Hang Seismograph, Sloot's Digital Coding, Cloud Buster etc. But these don't function precisely. Two

major reasons behind the obliterations of these incredible technologies are- fear inside political leaders / kings / emperors, man-made

catastrophic events, wars and some by mistakes. No technologies had been disappeared naturally. Either they have been destroyed or removed

or ceased mercilessly forever. This paper has tried to decipher some untold mysteries and secrets along with scientific explanations and spiritual

benevolence; so that no one's sentiment get hurt and scientific people can also quench their thirst to some extent.




REFERENCES:

Gurusironmani .P, (2001): "A Chronical Probe into Siddha System", India Bulletins: Medieval History, vol.13, pp.33-37

Donnelly Ignatious, (2001): "Atlantis: The Antideluvian World" ........................(Book)

Nienhuis .I. James, (2003): "Ice Age Civilizations"...................................(Report)

Research Journal of Kings University, Hawaii, (2017), ISSN: 2473-3733, vol-2, no-1...........(Journal)

Ramaswamy Sumathi, (1999): "Catastrophic Cartographies: Mapping the Lost Continent of Lemuria", Representations, University of

California Press, no-67, pp.92-129

Mahalingam .N, (17th September, 2010): "The Lost Lemuria and the Kumari Continent", Centre for Indian Languages, Jawaharlal Nehru

University..............................(Lecture)

Scott-Elliot .W, (1904): "The Lost Lemuria", London: Theosophical Publishing Society..........(Book)

Mandavilli Rao Sujay, (2012): " The Demise of the Dravidian, Vedic and Paramunda Indus Hypotheses: Why these Hypotheses are no longer

tenable"....................(Report)

Kochmann Werner, Reibold Marianne, Hauffe Wolfgang, (2003): "Nanowires and Ancient Damascus Steel", Journal of Alloys and

Compounds, Elsevier, no-372, pp.15-19

Freeth .T, Bistakis .Y, (2006): " Decoding the ancient Greek astronomical calculator known as the Antikythera Mechanism", Nature Publishing

Group, vol-444, pp.587-591

Shivanandam .M, (2015): " Mercury Propulsion System in Vedic Vimanas and Modern Spacecrafts", International Journal of Research and

Analytical Review (IJRAR), Vol-2, issue-2, pp.136-144

Mayor Adrienne, (2008): " Greek Fire, Poison Arrows & Scorpion Bombs: Biological and Chemical Warfare in the Ancient World", Overlook,

New Intro................(Citation and explanation)

Jeffreys Elizabeth, (2006): "Byzantine Style, Religion and Civilization", Cambridge University Press.........(Book)

Balasubramaniam .R, (2000): "On the corrosion resistance of the Delhi iron pillar", Corrosion Science, Pergamon, vol-42, pp.2103-2129

Barber J.D, Freestone C.I, (1990): " An Investigation Of The Origin Of The Colour Of The Lycurgus Cup By Analytical Transmission Electron

Microscopy", Archaeometry, vol-32, no-1, pp.33-45

Handorf Von .E.D, (2002): "The Baghdad Battery-- Myth or Reality?", Plating and Surface Finishing, pp.84-87

Weidenaar Reynold, (1995): "Magic Music from The Telharmonium", The Scarecrow Press, Metuchen New Jersey and London..............(Book)

Bhatta Brajabandhu, (2011): "Secret Dwelling of Lord Jagannath: A Study", Orissa Review 2011 July, pp.90-93

Vardia Shweta, (2008): "Building Science of Indian Temple Architecture", Advanced Masters in Structural Analysis of Monuments and

Historical Constructions, Universidade do Minho, Portugal........(Thesis)

Sriraman .S.P, (2010): " Digital photo documentation of murals at Brihadisvara Temple, Tanjavur: a tool for art historians", Space, Time,

Place: Third International Conference on Remote Sensing in Archaeology, vol-3, pp.167-172

Mangayarkarasi .K, (2019): "Temple Architecture in Tamil Nadu", South Eastern University International Arts Research Symposium,

December; pp.7-11

Patra Benudhar, (2006): "Antiquity of Arkakshetra Konark", Orissa Review 2006 April, pp.7-12

Rath Srabani Chirashree, Behera Ranjan Rashmi, (2015): " Exploring the Lost River(s) at Konarka: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach", Odisha Review 2015 August, pp.92-96

Halperns Jake, (2012): THE SECRET OF THE TEMPLE- The discovery of treasure worth billions of dollars shakes Southern India, The New

Yorker, April 30th; pp.49-57..............(Report)

Heather Phillips, (2010): "Great Library of Alexandria", Zeitschriftenartikel, Open Access Repository, August, pp.1-40




Bagnall .S Roger, (2002): "Alexandria: Library of Dreams", American Philosophical Society, vol-146, no-4, Columbia University, pp.348-362

Knight Kevin, (2009): "The Voynich Manuscript", Information Sciences Institute, University of Southern California,

September...................(Presentation)

Bloem Peter, (2006): " Unsupervised Analysis of the Voynich Manuscript", Corpus ID: 3660393, 3rd July

Brig. Tiltman .H John, (2002): "" THE VOYNICH MANUSCRIPT- "The Most Mysterious Manuscript in the World" "", DOCID: 631091, pp.1-

45................(A Diary)

Lattermann Gunter, (2017): "The Malleable Glass of the Ancients", Journal of Plastics History "Plastory", July, ISSN: 2190-9598, No-6, pp.1-

8

Reczko Wolfgang, (2009): " Analyzing and dating the structure of the Phaistos Disk", Archaeol Anthropol Sci, Springer, pp.241-245

Williams Alan, (2005): "Crucible Steel in Medieval Swords", Department of Conservation, London, UK

© 2019 ijrar june 2019, volume 6, issue 2 (e-issn … · 2020. 4. 17. · figure-2: damascus steel...

Documents