When science meets spirituality: How Indian temples have been marvels of scientific innovation

A recent event, on Ram Navami Day, saw a ray of sunlight being directed to a spot on the forehead of the Ram Lalla idol in Ayodhya. While naysayers jumped to call it a simple school project equivalent, acolytes added it to the growing legend around the temple. Amidst the rhetoric and event management, a simple point has been missed. According to various accounts, iconic temples have often been at the centre of scientific innovation, possibly to a far greater degree than what has been observed in Ayodhya. And much of this is in the realm of Astronomy. Let’s travel eastward to explore one such site…

At Konark, in Odisha, the stunning Sun Temple is today a passive tourist attraction. But it is said that during its construction, in the 13th century CE, an iron plate was placed between every alternate stone with a lodestone-like magnet at the top, said to weigh several tonnes. Legend has it that this caused the idol of the Sun God to float in mid air, with magnets above, below and perhaps on the sides also.

Also, the temple and its main idol were located in a manner that the first ray of the sun crossed the mandapa and fell on a diamond said to have been embedded at the crown of the idol. Another story holds that the magnetic effect of the lodestone was so powerful that it disturbed the compass of ships in the Bay of Bengal – and this triggered Portuguese sailors to destroy the temple and take away the lodestone, causing further structural collapse of the building.

The temple is designed like a chariot being pulled by horses, moving forward on 12 pairs of wheels, with both the horses and the wheels being carved in stone. Legends also abound about these wheels. One interpretation holds that the 12 pairs of wheels represent months, while the 24 individual wheels stand for hours in a day, with the 8 major spokes within each being symbolic of the ‘prahars’ – capsules of three hours each that make up the day. Today, all that remains is the partly restored shrine, magnificent even in ruin. And the legends of the past.

A similar story comes from Multan, now in Pakistan. Once upon a time, this was Moolasthan and home to a temple dedicated to Aditya, the Sun God. Of the various accounts that travellers have left of this temple, one – said to be by a Greek explorer – mentions an idol suspended in mid air. The temple has been destroyed and rebuilt several times and currently, has been entirely lost. Hence, stories are all that remain.

As is well established, Astronomy played a key role in the building of a temple. And not just large temples, but even cave shrines seem to have used the sunrays in interesting ways. From Udayagiri, a Gupta period 3rd -5th century CE site in Madhya Pradesh’s Vidisha district comes an interesting scientific study. Conducted by historian and architect Dr. Meera Ishwar Dass and the late Prof. R. Balasubramaniam, Professor of Metallurgical Engineering at IIT Kanpur, it combined a historical study of the site with metallurgy.

From its location itself, Udayagiri gives evidence of astounding astronomical knowledge. Geographically, it lies on 23.31 degrees latitude, almost on the Tropic of Cancer which is roughly marked to 23.5 degrees latitude. The tropics, however, are not static but move in accordance to the natural oscillations of the angle of the earth’s axis. Thus, backward calculations show that the Tropic of Cancer was at 23.26 degrees in 2001, 23.42 degrees in 100 BCE and 23.39 degrees in 400 CE, which is the period when the cave-shrines here were being built. Did the builders have knowledge of astronomy to the extent that they knew of the tropics and the earth’s movements?

But the best part lies in the details. Udayagiri essentially comprises two hills which are joined together. Halfway up, a passageway of sorts leads to a cave shrine built where the two hills meet. Inside is a magnificent rock-cut icon of the Anantasayi Vishnu – a depiction of Vishnu in a reclining form. The reclining Vishnu is aligned in an east-west direction and it was observed that only in the period immediately before and just after summer solstice day (June 21st) that the sun’s rays directly fell on the rock cut icon. In 400 CE, with the Tropic of Cancer falling almost on the hill and the sun directly overhead at 90 degrees on summer solstice day, lighting-up of the icon before and after must have been the effect planned for by the builders.

And as if that is not evidence enough of the scientific temper of the Gupta period builders, there’s more to come. On summer solstice day, the shadow of any vertical standing object at the entrance of the passageway to the cave would fall in the direction of the Anantasayi Vishnu panel, almost like a ceremonial pointer. As of now, there is no such vertical object there.

But here is where the metallurgical study came in - And revealed that such an object could have been the famed Iron Pillar now seen in the courtyard of the complex that houses the Qutab Minar in Delhi – the same pillar that has astounded scholars and scientists for long for its resistance to rust.

Now going back to Ayodhya! On April 17, at 12 noon, a ray of sunlight was directed at the forehead of the Ram Lalla idol using a mechanism comprising four mirrors and two lenses. A team of scientists from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) estimated the shape, size and location of the mirrors and lenses for sufficient light to fall on the idol for about six minutes. Apparently, this is expected to become an annual feature at Ayodhya, with the day depending on the sun’s position.

While the IIA team achieved what they set out to do, the unknown people who planned and built the Udayagiri site were masters at what they did too! Today, it is Ayodhya that is centre-stage. Over fifteen hundred years ago, perhaps a packed crowd watched a similar event Udayagiri too.

The author is a heritage explorer by inclination with a penchant for seeking obscure sites. A brand consultant by profession, he tweets @HiddenHeritage. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.