𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐍𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐍 𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊𝐒

Hey guys, today we are going into the ancient temple of Thiruparundurai and I am going to show you some impossible carvings found here. But wait, we have already walked past a miracle, two miracles actually. Look at these carvings, look at their height. Yes, they are made of stone and in this picture you can see my height and you can compare that with the height of these statues. Each statue is about a whopping 15 feet tall. In today's world of new age marketing where the substance is just 10% and marketing is 90%, we do not value the ancient system of modesty. The ancient builders deliberately placed these extraordinary carvings in unnoticeable locations and wanted you to miss them. If you enter this temple, there is a 99% chance that you are not going to enter like this and then turn around and look at these giant carvings. You are probably going to walk straight into the temple without looking back. And by the time you are finished exploring this huge temple and are going home, you would be too tired to observe these two statues. So, the ancient builders intentionally put them here not to be seen. But why? But it is not just the giant size that stuns us. If we examine the micro details, it is even more stunning. At the top of the left giant, there are 4 different bands. The first one shows the sun and the crescent moon alternating, symbolizing day and night. The next band shows a series of strange cylinders and each cylinder looks shiny at the top but has some patterns below. Each one is a Sahasralinga, a type of linga indicating the presence of Lord Shiva. Below that, we can see another band studded with chakras and conchs. The chakra and conch signify Lord Vishnu, the protector of everything. And below that, you can see a band with a bunch of circles. If you count the number of circles, there are 9 circles, the Navagrahas or the 9 heavenly factors that affect planet earth. So, this deity is basically wearing the entire universe as a bunch of garlands, as he appears to be towering over the universe. His hair and his fierce looking face have a lot of fantastic details, but I am going to skip that and go to the weapons. On the top 2 hands, he is holding some weird things. Can you tell me what they are? This is a quiver, a bag which holds a bunch of arrows, and you can see that he is pulling out one arrow using just 2 fingers. On the other hand, this is a bow, it looks tiny in his hand, simply because he is a giant. But there is a detail here that is just unbelievable. Look at the string of the bow, how it goes like this with enough space, but here it is tightly clasping his thumb. The string is stretched because he has inserted his thumb and now there is tension. This is technically called elastic tension, so it has to align tightly with his thumb. And again, you can see that there is enough space between the bow and the string here after the thumb. A fantastic detail that cannot even be seen with the naked eye. I had to zoom in with my DSLR, that's how I found it. On this hand, you can see an animal, it is actually a deer, and on the other side, you can see a tiny axe like weapon. There are long stories attached to these 2 things called Maan and Maru. In the hand below, you can see a trident, and you can easily mistake it for the Shiva's trident or the Trishul. But again, another strange detail. In the center, it is not just a prong, it somewhat looks like a piece of the vertebral column, right? This is another weapon called Vajra which can produce the power of a lightning. So it is a combo weapon where you can electrocute the enemy while impaling him with a trident. On this side, there is another strange weapon that looks like a ring. You can see how his finger is inserted into the ring. Of course, he is a giant, so the ring looks tiny next to him. However, I have already shown you a ring like ancient weapon called the Chakra in another video. This is what he is holding, and below that, this is a shield, a round shield with a protrusion in the front, but from this angle, it looks strange. And on the other hand, you can see a sword or a dagger. And he has 2 more arms by the way, and look at what he is doing with them. He is holding someone by his hair, and he is going to cut his head off. Look at the long sword he is holding in the other hand and how it is placed on the victim's neck. Now, what is fascinating is how he is holding the sword. This is not how a soldier holds a sword, a soldier typically holds a sword firmly in his hand while fighting someone. But this deity is a giant, right? And the victim is tiny. Because of the size, you should imagine how a biologist would hold a scalpel while dissecting a frog. He would just hold it with 2 fingers because he is not afraid of the frog. And that is exactly what we see in the statue. He is holding the long sword casually with 2 fingers and is going to dissect the victim. And look here, he is wearing a shin guard made of chains to protect his shin, just like today's soccer players. If you are a warrior, you definitely need shin guards. Not to mention his sandals, I mean look at the height of the soles, these are huge. Why does a giant, who is already giant, need more elevation? And you can even see the strap going around. But look at this detail, the kneecap, look at how it is projecting out and looks like a cup. This is exactly how a human knee would look. And look at the shinbone, how it protrudes like a line. Now look at the carving and you can see the exact same detail. I am not going to discuss this statue on the other side, but there are many many differences between these 2 statues. For example, his eyes are open and you can see a weird expression. He is not using a sword, he is using a long spear and the victim is lying on the floor. But look at this detail here on the back of his leg. There is a depression, a thin line of depression between the shin bone and his calf muscles. If you observe a human body, when a person's leg is elevated, this depression does not appear. But if he is standing, this depression becomes clearly visible. So, imagine the mindset of ancient builders who paid attention to the micro details in anatomy while carving these 15 feet tall macro statues. Look at this horseman here, you can see this little bump on his knee right next to the kneecap. Now look at this bump on a real human leg. I don't want to complicate this by going into the anatomical name of this bump, but these are fascinating details. And look at the muscles of his thighs, see how it is curving down because of gravity. And they not only paid attention to human anatomy, look at this horse, notice its teeth. You may think this looks more like human teeth, it looks exaggerated right? No, horses have teeth that look perfect, quite similar to the teeth of humans. And look at the back of the jaw, there is not much teeth here. Again, look at the statue, and look at how the sculptor was paying attention to the anatomy of the horse, carving the inside of its mouth. But it gets better, look at how this man is holding a long spear ready to attack someone. Look at his chest muscles, his pectoral muscles, see how well defined they are. And below that, look at his rib bone, these bones come out when you are inhaling. Your rib cage becomes prominent when you breathe in. And why is he holding his breath? Because he is lifting this huge spear. Next time, when you lift something heavy, notice what happens, you will hold your breath and your rib bones will come out. But look at the back of his hand, see these 4 lines, they look familiar, don't they? Now, you just turned your hand and looked at the back of your hand, didn't you? You may think these are nerves or veins, but these are tendons that join muscles to bones. Each tendon is going up one finger, and you can see how they are flaring up. They are only coming out because he is lifting a heavy spear and he is holding it in this position. But look, in the same carving, let me show you the other hand. Where are the tendons? They are not visible because he is merely holding the reins with this hand, so there is no tension, that's why the tendons are not flaring up. Today, you will only find these details in medical texts about anatomy. These tendons are called Extensor Digitorum tendons. So understand the profound knowledge and wisdom of ancient sculptors. Some historians say ancient Indian kings used slaves to make these carvings. Will a slave who is forced into labor create such details? Look at this figure, look at his chin. He has a bump on his chin. But adults rarely have such bumps. And you can see this mostly in babies. Lots of babies have these chin bumps. But why does this baby have it? He is Lord Kartikeya, the youngest or the baby of Shiva's family. That's why he is shown with a chin bump. And look at his belly, he still has baby fat. And look at his leg here, look at this projection on the ankle, you can see how it is carved perfectly, exactly like a human being. But keep an eye on this area about his toes, you don't see anything here, right? Now, let me show you this carving, look at this deity's leg. You can see the same bone protruding out, but look at this, you can see a tendon. This is a tendon going to the big toe. In medical texts, there is a fancy name for this, it is called the tendon of extensor hallucis longus. And look here, you can see a bunch of other tendons as well, and all these fibrous things flaring up. Now, you saw the tendons on a grown man, or rather a grown god, but let's go back to the baby god, Kartikeya. Look above his toes, you cannot see any tendons. Why? Because he has baby fat covering his tendons. Now, let's go back to the grown up god Narasimha, because we are not done yet. Lord Narasimha is destroying someone using his bare hands by ripping his intestines out. You can see how his fingers are going into the victim's belly. But do you see the problem here? This large tube like thing is the large intestine or the colon, and these two smaller tubular things are the small intestine. This is extraordinary. When we see external details like the bones and tendons, we can claim that the sculptors were using models and just carved what they saw. But how could this sculptor carve the small intestine and the large intestine? He would have had to cut someone's belly open to see these details. Now, I have shown you just 5 or 6 carvings in this ancient temple, and there are more than 1000 carvings in this temple. So, imagine how long we would need to discuss all these carvings in the temple. Have you ever seen such details anywhere? Who knew this temple in a small village of South India would have such incredible carvings? How did ancient builders understand so much about human anatomy? Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section. I am Praveen Mohan, thanks a lot for watching. Don't forget to subscribe and I will talk to you soon. Bye.