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The Sundial at Konark Sun temple in India built in 1250 A.D is a treasure trove of secrets of ancient India. People still use it today to tell time. We know how the sundial works and shows time accurate to the minute. What is interesting is what is missing from the picture!
konark Sun temple
For the uninitiated the sundial has 8 major spokes that divide 24 hours into 8 equal parts, which means that the time between two major spokes is 3 hours.

8 Major spokes. Distance between 2 spokes is 3 hours.
8 Major spokes. Distance between 2 spokes is 3 hours.


There are 8 minor spokes as well. Each minor spoke runs exactly in the middle of 2 major spokes. This means that the minor spoke divides the 3 hours in half, so the time between a major spoke and a minor spoke is an hour and half or 90 minutes.

8 Minor spokes between 2 major spokes dividing 3 hours, i.e. 180 minutes into 90 minutes each
8 Minor spokes between 2 major spokes dividing 3 hours, i.e. 180 minutes into 90 minutes each


The edge of the wheel has a lot of beads. There are 30 beads between a minor and a major spoke. So, the 90 minutes are further divided by 30 beads. This means that each bead carries a value of 3 minutes.

There are 30 beads between a minor and a major spoke
There are 30 beads between a minor and a major spoke


The beads are large enough, so you can also see if the shadow falls in the center of the bead or on one of the ends of the bead. This way we can further calculate time accurately to the minute.

The beads are large enough, so you can also see if the shadow falls in the center of the bead or on one of the ends of the bead.
The beads are large enough,to check the shadow position.


Imagine how much time and coordination would have happened between the astronomers, engineers and sculptors to create something like this, 750 years ago.

There are 2 questions that one would get in their mind. The first question would be, what happens when the sun moves from east to west. Since the wheel is carved on a wall, the sun would not shine on this wheel at all. How can we tell time in the afternoons? Now, the Konark sun temple has another wheel or sundial, located on the west side of the temple as well. You can just use the other sundial that will work perfectly from afternoon, until sunset.

The second and the most interesting question about the Konark sun temple. How do you tell time after sunset? There would be no sun, and hence no shadows from sunset till the next morning’s sunrise. After all, we have 2 sundials in the temple which work only when the sun shines. Well, actually, the Konark sun temple does not have just 2 wheels like this. The temple has a total of 24 wheels, all accurately carved just like the sundials. Have you heard of the Moondial? Do you know that the moondials can work just like sun dials during night time? What if the other wheels in the temple could be used as moondials?

Some of the other wheels
Some of the other wheels


Many people think that the other 22 wheels were carved for decorative or religious purposes and do not have an actual use. This is what people thought about the 2 sundials as well. Believe it or not, people thought that all the 24 wheels were just carved for beauty and as Hindu symbols. About 100 years ago, it became known that this was a sundial when an old yogi was seen calculating time secretly. Apparently selected people were using these wheels for generations and for 650 years no one else knew about it. They say that when they asked him about the purpose of the other 22 wheels, the yogi refused to talk and simply walked away.

And our knowledge of just these 2 sundials themselves is actually very limited. There are multiple circles of beads. There are carvings and markings all over these sundials, and we don’t know the meaning of most of them. For example, this carving on a major spoke has exactly 60 beads. Some carving you can see leaves and flowers which may mean Spring or Summer. Some carvings you can see monkeys mating, which only happens during winter. So, these sundials could have even been used as an almanac for a variety of different things. Now you can understand how limited our knowledge is about the rest of the 22 wheels.

There are clues on these wheels that people have overlooked for centuries. Notice how a woman wakes up and looks at a mirror in the morning. Notice how she is stretching, being tired and ready to go to sleep. And you can also see that she is engaging in sexual activity during night. For centuries, people have ignored these hints and thought that these were carvings of Hindu Goddesses.

woman wakes up and looks at a mirror in the morning and doing her daily chores
woman wakes up and looks at a mirror in the morning and doing her daily chores


This is also a perfect example of how people think ancient unexplained carvings are just for beauty or religious purposes. If ancient people spent a lot of time creating something, there is a very good chance that it was done for a valuable, scientific purpose.

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Post Credits:Ancien Indian UFO
Photo Credits: Bikertony
The Phenomenal Travel

In the theory of relativity, time dilation is an actual difference of elapsed time between two events as measured by observers either moving relative to each other or differently situated from gravitational masses.
As a blogger, I am no one to judge. So i won’t tell you the answer in straight Yes or NO. But, i am very happy to share some stories which clearly shows the concept of time dilation in ancient hinduism. interstellar and hinduism King Muchukunda 
First story is about king Muchukunda. Muchukunda, son of King Mandhata, was born in the Ikshvaku dynasty.
Once, in a battle, the Gods were defeated by the demons. Tormented by arrows, they sought help from king Muchukunda. King Muchukunda agreed to help them and fought against the demons for a long time. Since the Gods did not have an able commander, king Muchukunda protected them against the demonic onslaught, until the deities got an able commander like Lord Kartikeya, the son of Lord Shiva.

After the Gods got their new commander, It was time for King Muchukunda to go back to his kingdom. But, it was not that easy. And here comes the important part of time dialation.
When King Muchukunda was taking leave from there, Indra said to the king Muchukunda, “O king, we, the deities are indebted to you for the help and protection which you have given us, by sacrificing your own family life. Here in the heaven, one year equals three hundred and sixty years of the earth. Since, it has been a long time, there is no sign of your kingdom and family because it has been destroyed with the passage of time.

Earth had changed so much during the period. Thousands of years had elapsed and there was no one on earth that King Muchukunda could relate to. So the King wanted to attain moksha. The Devas wanted to help Muchukunda for his service. But they were incapable of granting moksha to the king as it can only be granted by Srihari Vishnu.
“We are happy and pleased with you, so ask for any boon except Moksha(liberation) because Moksha(liberation) is beyond our capacities”.

Muchkunda asks Indra for a boon to sleep. While fighting on the side of the deities, king Muchukunda did not get an opportunity to sleep even for a moment. Now, since his responsibilities were over, overcome by tiredness, he was feeling very sleepy. So, he said, “O King of the deities, I want to sleep. Anyone who dares to disturb my sleep should get burnt to ashes immediately”.
Indra said, “So be it, go to the earth and enjoy your sleep, one who awakens you would be reduced to ashes”.
After this, king Muchukunda descended to earth and selected a cave, where he could sleep without being disturbed.

King Kakudmi 
The second story is about Kakudmi. Also called Kakudmin, or Raivata, son of Revata. He was the King of Kusasthali. He was the father of Revati who married Balarama.

Kakudmi’s daughter Revati was so beautiful and so accomplished that when she reached a marriageable age, Kakudmi, thinking no one upon earth was worthy of her, went to the Creator himself, Lord Brahma, to seek his advice about a suitable husband for his daughter.

When they arrived, Brahma was listening to a musical performance by the Gandharvas, so they waited patiently until the performance was finished. Then, Kakudmi bowed humbly, made his request and presented his shortlist of candidates. Brahma laughed loudly, and explained that time runs differently on different planes of existence, and that during the short time they had waited in Brahma-loka to see him, 27 catur-yugas (a cycle of four yugas, totalling 108 yugas, or Ages of Man) had passed on earth. Brahma said to Kakudmi, “O King, all those whom you may have decided within the core of your heart to accept as your son-in-law have died in the course of time. Twenty-seven catur-yugas have already passed. Those upon whom you may have already decided are now gone, and so are their sons, grandsons and other descendants. You cannot even hear about their names. You must therefore bestow this virgin gem (i.e. Revati) upon some other husband, for you are now alone, and your friends, your ministers, servants, wives, kinsmen, armies, and treasures, have long since been swept away by the hand of time.”

 

Brahma Lord Brahma
King Kakudmi was overcome with astonishment and alarm at hearing this news. However, Brahma comforted him, and added that Vishnu, the preserver, was currently incarnate on earth in the forms of Krishna and Balarama, and he recommended Balarama as a worthy husband for Revati.Kakudmi and Revati then returned to earth which they regarded as having left only just a short while ago. They were shocked by the changes that had taken place. Not only had the landscape and environment changed, but over the intervening 27 chatur-yugas, in the cycles of human spiritual and cultural evolution, mankind was at a lower level of development than in their own time (see Ages of Man). The Bhagavata Purana describes that they found the race of men had become “dwindled in stature, reduced in vigour, and enfeebled in intellect.”Daughter and father found Balarama and proposed the marriage which was accepted. The marriage was then duly celebrated.

Lord Brahma’s Time
There is a sanskrit shloka in Bhagwad Gita (8.17) which goes like this.
Sahasra-yuga-paryantam
ahar yad brahmano viduh
ratrim yuga-sahasrantam
te ho-ratra-vido janah
“One day of Brahma is equal to one thousand cycles ofthe four yogas  Satvn and one mights is also equal to one thousand yogas.  Persons who understand it in perspective are, in fact, aware of the basic nature of time.”

time