Alien City under Kailāsanātha Temple ?

The Kailāsanātha temple (Cave 16) is one of the 32 cave temples and monasteries known collectively as the Ellora Caves. Its construction is generally attributed to the Rashtrakuta king Krishna I (r. 756-773 CE). The temple architecture shows traces of Pallava and Chalukya styles.

Mysteries that surround the Monolith..

The Kailash Temple is a standalone, multi-storeyed temple complex, made to look like Mount Kailash - the puranic home of Lord Shiva.

The Kailāsanātha Temple is the largest rock-cut ancient Hindu temple in the world. A megalith carved out of one single rock, it is considered one of the most remarkable cave temples on the planet because of its sheer size, architecture and sculptural treatment. 

The Kailāśa Temple is notable for its vertical excavation—carvers started at the top of the original rock and excavated downward. It is the only structure in the world to be built that way. 

The rock temple was cut in 'U' shape about 50 metres in the back, and tonnes of rock was removed to give shape to it. The scientists had calculated that it would have taken more than a hundred years to finish the temple construction. However, in reality it took only 18 years to complete it. Interestingly, modern age engineers find it impossible to finish the same temple using the modern technology in 18 years!

An estimated 2 million cubic feet of rock was cut from the mountain, but was never found anywhere. Where did all that stone go?

Mughal ruler Aurangzeb had made a strong attempt to vandalise the Kailash Temple, but he was unable to get much success in his plans. All he could do was a minor damage here and there, but not to the main structure.

In her book, "The Secret Doctrine"; Helena Balavatsky claimed that many advanced civilizations existed Millions of Years Ago. Their remnants can still be found beneath the secret passages and chambers of the Indian cave temples. And even in statues that adorn the walls of the Kailāshnāth !

Lost Treasures of Nalanda

Nalanda Mahavihara

Nalanda was an acclaimed Mahavihara, a large Buddhist monastery in the ancient kingdom of Magadha (modern day Bihar) in India. Considered by historians to be the world's very first residential university, and among the greatest centers of learning in the ancient world, it was located near the city of Rajagriha (now Rajgir) and about 90 kilometres (56 mi) southeast of Pataliputra (now Patna), and was a centre of learning from the 427 CE to 1197 CE.

Nalanda was established during the Gupta Empire era, and was supported by numerous Indian and Javanese patrons – both Buddhists and Hindus. Over some 750 years, its faculty included some of the most revered scholars of Mahayana Buddhism. Nalanda Mahavihara taught six major Buddhist schools and philosophies such as Yogacara and Sarvastivada as well as subjects such as grammar, medicine, logic and mathematics. The university was also a major source of the 657 Sanskrit texts carried by pilgrim Xuanzang and the 400 Sanskrit texts carried by Yijing to China in the 7th-century, which influenced East Asian Buddhism. Many of the texts composed at Nalanda played an important role in the development of Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism including the Mahavairocana Tantra and the Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra of Shantideva.

It was sacked and destroyed by the troops of Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khalji, partly restored thereafter, and continued to exist till about 1400 CE. Today, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Nalanda Heritage Site

Nalanda Heritage Site

While its excavated ruins today only occupy an area of around 1,600 feet (488 m) by 800 feet (244 m) or roughly 12 hectares, Nalanda Mahavihara occupied a far greater area in medieval times.

The subjects taught at Nalanda covered every field of learning, and it attracted pupils and scholars from Korea, Japan, China, Tibet, Indonesia, Persia and Turkey. These included Vedas, Logic, Grammar, Philosophy, Theology, Literature, Astronomy, Medicine, Law, City-Planning, Tantra, Yoga, Mahayana, Hinyana etc.

Xuanzang left detailed accounts of the school in the 7th century. He described how the regularly laid-out towers, forest of pavilions, harmikas and temples seemed to "soar above the mists in the sky" so that from their cells the monks "might witness the birth of the winds and clouds". The pilgrim states: "An azure pool winds around the monasteries, adorned with the full-blown cups of the blue lotus; the dazzling red flowers of the lovely kanaka hang here and there, and outside groves of mango trees offer the inhabitants their dense and protective shade."

In the detailed account of his stay at Nalanda, the pilgrim also describes the view out of the window of his quarters thus, " Moreover, the whole establishment is surrounded by a brick wall, which encloses the entire convent from without. One gate opens into the great college, from which are separated eight other halls standing in the middle (of the Sangharama). The richly adorned towers, and the fairy-like turrets, like pointed hill-tops are congregated together. The observatories seem to be lost in the vapours (of the morning), and the upper rooms tower above the clouds."

History

Nalanda's datable history begins in the 5th-century. A seal discovered at the site identifies a monarch named Shakraditya (Śakrāditya) as its founder and attributes the foundation of a sangharama (monastery) at the site to him. This is corroborated by the Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang travelogue. The tradition of formalized Vedic learning "helped to inspire the formation of large teachings centres," such as Nalanda, Taxila, and Vikramashila.

In the Indian tradition and texts, kings were called by many epithets and names. Scholars such as Andrea Pinkney and Hartmut Scharfe conclude that Shakraditya is same as Kumaragupta I. He was one of the kings in the Hindu dynasty of the Guptas. Further, numismatic evidence discovered at Nalanda corroborate that Kumaragupta I was the founder patron of the Nalanda monastery-university.

His successors, Budhagupta, Tathagatagupta, Baladitya, and Vajra, later extended and expanded the institution by building additional monasteries and temples. Nalanda, thus flourished through the 5th and 6th-centuries under the Guptas. These Gupta-era contributions to Nalanda are corroborated by the numerous Buddhist and Hindu seals, artwork, iconography and inscriptions discovered at Nalanda, which are in the Gupta-style and Gupta-era scripts. During this period, the Gupta kings were not the only patrons of Nalanda. They reflect a broad and religiously-diverse community of supporters. It is remarkable, states Scharfe, that "many donors were not Buddhists; the emblems on their seals show Lakshmi, Ganesha, Shivalinga and Durga".

After the decline of the Guptas, the most notable patron of the Nalanda Mahavihara was Harsha (known as Śīlāditya in some Buddhist records). He was the 7th-century emperor with capital at Kannauj (Kanyakubja). According to Xuanzang, Harsha was a third generation Hindu king from the Vaishya caste, who built majestic Buddhist viharas, as well as three majestic temples – Buddha, Surya and Shiva, all of the same size. He states (637 CE), "a long succession of kings" had built up Nalanda till "the whole is truly marvellous to behold".

In accordance with the ancient Indian traditions of supporting temples and monasteries, inscriptions found at Nalanda suggest that it received gifts, including grants of villages by kings to support the operation of Nalanda. Harsha himself granted 100 villages. He also directed 200 households from each these villages to supply the institution's monks with requisite daily supplies such as of rice, butter, and milk. This supported over 1,500 faculty and 10,000 student monks at Nalanda.

Bakhtiyar Khalji's massacre of buddhists and brahmin monks in Bihar

Destruction by Bakhtiyar Khalji

The destruction of Nalanda was not an accident or misunderstanding but a part of the widespread destruction of Buddhist monasteries and monuments including a destruction of Bodhgaya. The vast manuscript libraries of Magadha had been mostly lost. Other Tibetan monks had shifted to Nepal, as the place to study, copy and move manuscripts to Tibet. According to Dharmasvamin account, the Turushka-Qarluq (Turk) conquest extended from about 1193 to 1205, the destruction was systematic with "Turushka soldiers razing a monastery to the ground and throwing the stones into Ganges river", states Roerich. The fear of persecution was strong in the 1230s, and his colleagues dissuaded him from going to Magadha.

Another evidence is the discovery of thick layer of ashes and charcoal discovered during the archaeological excavations on the uppermost strata, inscribed artwork and soil, and this layer was found over many buildings separated by some distance. This suggests that Nalanda's destruction was accompanied with a widespread fire after mid-12th-century. This corroborates Dharmasvamin account of the destruction.

Tracking the Manuscripts

Xuanzang returned to China with 657 Sanskrit texts and 150 relics carried by 20 horses in 520 cases. He translated 74 of the texts himself.

Yizing arrived in 673 CE, and stayed in India for fourteen years, ten of which he spent at the Nalanda Mahavihara. When he returned to China in 695, he had with him 400 Sanskrit texts and 300 grains of Buddha relics which were subsequently translated in China.

The last throne-holder of Nalanda, Shakyashri Bhadra of Kashmir, fled to Tibet in 1204 at the invitation of the Tibetan translator Tropu Lotsawa (Khro-phu Lo-tsa-ba Byams-pa dpal). Some of the surviving Nalanda books were taken by fleeing monks to Tibet. He took with him several Indian masters: Sugataśrī, (an expert in Madhyamaka and Prajñāpāramitā); Jayadatta (Vinaya); Vibhūticandra (grammar and Abhidharma), Dānaśīla (logic), Saṅghaśrī (Candavyākaraṇa), Jīvagupta (books of Maitreya), Mahābodhi,(Bodhicaryāvatāra); and Kālacandra (Kālacakra).

Tibetan Buddhist tradition is regarded to be a continuation of the Nalanda tradition. The Dalai Lama states: "Tibetan Buddhism is not an invention of the Tibetans. Rather, it is quite clear that it derives from the pure lineage of the tradition of the Nalanda Monastery. The master Nagarjuna hailed from this institution, as did many other important philosophers and logicians..."

The Dalai Lama refers to himself as a follower of the lineage of the seventeen Nalanda masters.

The Rise and Fall of the Human Civilization

In the previous post we discussed about the manvantars and super-continents, now we shall discuss the origins of the human race. Hindu scriptures have maintained that; humans and by far advanced civilizations have existed on earth from the beginning of life on earth. We are presently living in the 7^th manvantar (Details of hindu concepts of time has been discussed in the previous post). Each manvantar is divided into a cycle 0f 71 ‘divya-yugas’. This divya-yuga cycle consist of 4 Yugas viz.  Sat Yuga (Golden Age), Treta Yuga (Silver Age), Dwapar Yuga (Bronze Age), and Kali Yuga (Iron Age). We are presently in 28^th Kali yuga of the 7^th manvantar.  There are ancient Sanskrit writings that describe Satya Yuga as an age when humans lived in complete harmony with nature. The weather is always very mild, almost perpetually spring-like, and there are no cities. The distinction between men and gods (devas) is virtually non-existent. There is no need for technological devices of any sort, because whatever end today's technology serves could be achieved back then through their own innate abilities which were fully manifested at birth. Then comes Treta Yuga, which is when people start to build houses and cities to live in as a result of somewhat more unpredictable weather, political systems come into being and competition and conflicts between people start to arise. Then we move onto Dwapar Yuga, the age when doubt rears its ugly head. Wars become more common in this age. And then we finally come to Kali Yuga, which is supposedly the current age that our modern human civilization is in. It is commonly known as 'the age of quarrel and hypocrisy' and is a very intense age. This is the paradox underlying each of the yugas.

Sata Yuga or the Golden Age

Hard to believe as it is; modern science have rejected these as imaginations of primitive people. But they have failed explain that, how these primitive people knew the exact workings of the cosmos, measurement of time in such huge numbers, and even the use of nuclear energy. Charles Berlitz, author of several books, including The Bermuda Triangle wrote:  “ The Jyotish (400 B. C) echoes the modern concept of the earth's place in the universe, the law of gravity, the kinetic nature of energy, and the theory of cosmic rays and also deals, in specialized but unmistakable vocabulary, with the theory of atomic rays. And what was thousands of years before the medieval theologians of Europe argued about the number of angels that could fit on the head of a pin.”

Ruins of Mohenjo-daro

Supposedly if our current world is destroyed, say from a nuclear holocaust or a natural catastrophe of global proportions. The surviving people will have to start building up the new world with nothing but scratch. All the previous age’s technology and scientific knowledge will slowly turn to oblivion. But some scriptures and memories will remain, and will be passed down to future generations for their benefit. After tens and thousands of years, when even the relics of such technologies will disappear; people will start treating them as myths and nothing else. So has our world been destroyed before? In 1979 a book by David W. Davenport, an Englishman born in India, was published in Italy. Its title was “2000 AC Diztruzione Atomica” (Atomic Destruction 2000. BC). Davenport claimed to have proof that Mohenjo-daro, one of the oldest cities in the history of human civilization, had been destroyed by an atomic bomb. While giving a lecture at Rochester University, Dr. Robert Oppenheimer (1904-1967) theoretical physicist and the Supervising Scientist of the Manhattan Project, who was familiar with ancient Sanskrit literature; was confronted by a simple question:

Student: Was the bomb exploded at Alamogordo during the Manhattan Project the first one to be detonated?

Dr. Oppenheimer: "Well -- yes. In modern times, of course."

Ancient Nuclear Wars??

It is commonly believed among the mainstream scientific community that humans have their origins on Earth approximately 200,000 years ago. However, over the last few centuries, literally thousands of archaeological discoveries have been made which severely challenges this belief. Here are merely some of the archaeological finds which clearly indicate that the Homo sapiens sapiens species has existed on this planet for far longer than what is usually taught in our textbooks:

* A human skull fragment from Hungary dated between 250,000 and 450,000 BC

* A human footprint with accompanying paleoliths (stones deliberately chipped into a recognizable tool type), bone tools, hearths and shelters, discovered in France and dated 300,000 to 400,000 years BC

* Paleoliths in Spain, a partial human skeleton and paleoliths in France; two English skeletons, one with associated paleoliths, ALLat least 300,000 years old

* Skull fragments and paleoliths in Kenya and advanced paleoliths, of modern human manufacture, in the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, dated between 400,000 and 700,000 BC

* Neoliths (the most advanced stone tools and utensils) in China of a type that indicate full human capacity, dated to 600,000 BC

* Hearths, charcoal, human femurs and broken animal bones, all denoting modern humanity, in Java, dated to 830,000 BC

* An anatomically modern human skull discovered in Argentina and dated between 1 million and 1.5 million years BC (eoliths -chipped pebbles, thought to be the earliest known tools- at Monte Hermoso, also in Argentina, are believed to be between 1 and 2.5 million years old).

* A human tooth from Java yielding a date between 1 and 1.9 million years BC

* Incised bones, dated between 1.2 and 2.5 million BC, have been found in Italy

* Finds of paleoliths, cut and charred bones at Xihoudu in China and eoliths from Diring Yurlakh in Siberia dated to 1.8 million BC

* Eoliths in India, paleoliths in England, Belgium, Italy and Argentina, flint blades in Italy, hearths in Argentina, a carved shell, pierced teeth and even two human jaws all bearing a minimum date of 2 million years BC

* Paleoliths from France dated between 7 and 9 million BC

* An eolith from India with a minimum dating of 9 million BC

* Incised bones from France, Argentina and Kenya no less than 12 million years old

* More paleolith finds from France, dated at least 20 million years ago

* Neoliths from California in excess of 23 million years

* Three different kinds of paleoliths from Belgium with a minimum dating of 26 million BC

* An anatomically modern human skeleton, neoliths and carved stones found at the Table Mountain, California and dated at least 33 million years ago

* A human skeleton found in Switzerland is estimated to be between 38 and 45 million years old.

* France has yielded up eoliths, paleoliths, cut wood and a chalk ball, the minimum ages of which range from 45 to 50 million years. 

* In 1960, H. L. Armstrong announced in Nature magazine the discovery of fossil human footprints near the Paluxy River, in Texas. Dinosaur footprints were found in the same strata.

* In 1983, the Moscow News reported the discovery of a fossilized human footprint next to the fossil footprint of a three-toed dinosaur in the Turkamen Republic. Dinosaurs have been extinct for approximately 65 million years.

* In 1983, Professor W. G. Burroughs of Kentucky reported the find of three pairs of fossil tracks dated to 300 million years ago. They showed left and right footprints. Each print had five toes and a distinct arch. The toes were spread apart like those of a human used to walking barefoot. The foot curved back like a human foot to what appeared to be a human heel. There was a pair of prints in the series that showed a left and right foot. The distance between them is just what you'd expect in modern human footprints. 

* In December 1862, The Geologist carried news of a human skeleton found 27.5 m (90 ft) below the surface in a coal seam in Illinois. The seam was dated between 286 and 320 million years BC.

It's true that a few eoliths, skull fragments and fossil footprints, however old, provide no real backing for the idea of advanced prehistoric human civilizations. But some other finds do:

* In 1968, an American fossil collector named William J. Meister found a fossilized human shoe print near Antelope Spring, Utah. There were trilobite fossils in the same stone, which means it was at least 245 million years old. Close examination showed that the sole of this shoe differed little, if at all, from those of shoes manufactured today.

* In 1897, a carved stone showing multiple faces of an old man was found at a depth of 40 m (130 ft) in a coal mine in Iowa. The coal there was of similar age.

* A piece of coal yielded up an encased iron cup in 1912. Frank J. Kenwood, who made the find, was so intrigued he traced the origin of the coal and discovered it came from the Wilburton Mine in Oklahoma. The coal there is about 312 million years old. 

* In 1844, Scottish physicist Sir David Brewster reported the discovery of a metal nail embedded in a sandstone block from a quarry in the north of England. The head was completely encased, ruling out the possibility that it had been driven in at some recent date. The block from which it came is approximately 360 million years old.

* On 22 June 1844, The Times reported that a length of gold thread had been found by workmen embedded in stone close to the River Tweed. This stone too was around 360 million years old.

* According to Scientific American, dated 5 June 1852, blasting activities at Meeting House Hill, in Dorchester, Massachusetts, unearthed a metallic, bell-shaped vessel extensively decorated with silver inlays of flowers and vines. The workmanship was described as 'exquisite'. The vessel was blown out of a bed of Roxbury conglomerate dated somewhat earlier than 600 million years BC.

* In 1993, Michael A. Cremo and Richard L. Thompson reported the discovery 'over the past several decades' of hundreds of metallic spheres in a pyrophyllite mine in South Africa. The spheres are grooved and give the appearance of having been manufactured. If so, the strata in which they were found suggest they were manufactured 2.8 billion years ago. 

May be in some distant past not recognized by modern science, humankind was far more advanced than we generally suppose. Following such times, humankind entered a 'dark age'. The cause of such dark ages and the total lapse of advanced civilization, is not known. And whether the advancement, or even origins of that civilization, came by way of extraterrestrial intervention, spiritual means or simple human ingenuity, is also not known. Astrobiologists now suspect that life began on Earth shortly after its formation...indicating that life evolves rather quickly and if such holds true, it's quite possible that life could have evolved to advanced levels of civilization prior to the first anatomically modern human ever chipping a flint stone.