Mysteries in the krishna's butterball

                                                                               KRISHNA'S BUTTERBALL

This is one of those unexplained mysteries in science. At Mahabalipuram the 20 feet high and 5 meter wide rock estimated to weigh over 250 tons seems to pull off a balancing act like no other. Known locally as Krishna’s Butter Ball is not a rock that stands on an extremely small and slippery area of a hill. It’s hard not to wonder how such a big structure is stationary at a place where it’s impossible to be so. And it’s been there for over 1200 years. Yes you heard that right 1200 years seemingly defying the laws of physics. The giant boulder appears to be frozen in its roll down the hill it sits on, and no one is quite sure why. The huge boulder is likely a glacial erratic that got stranded in a serendipitous position on the hill, but local legend has another version of the story. According to Hindu mythology, when the great god Krishna was just a baby, he was fond of stealing butter. Following this tradition, the big orange stone has been likened to a giant dollop of purloined butter that the god dropped. The actual name of the stone is “Vaan Irai Kal,” which translates to “Sky God’s Stone,” and according to one source, the more playful name was given to the rock by a local tour guide. However it got its sort of silly name, it stuck.Reinforcing the stone’s strangely balanced position, the slippery stone slope is used by local children as a slide. Today Krishna’s Butter Ball is a popular tourist attraction. Visitors to the site love to try to get behind the stone and try to push it down the hill. So far no human power has been able to budge the buttery boulder.

                                               


 STUDY ABOUT THE ROCK:

This type of rock is called a ventifact. Wind can erode away rocks by hitting them with particles of sand. Wind erosion is at its most potent when there is dry loose soil like in the deserts where the entire environment is shaped solely by wind and the forces of erosion. In this case, the loose soil of the shore provides the material required to alter and shape the rocks.One of the things that caught my eye was the smooth surface of the bedrock on which this rock structure lies. It's almost as if it had been smoothened with something. One phenomenon which can do this is the movement of a glacier. There's another force of nature which can do this. It's the wind which carries particles of sand and blasts them on a surface. It's called the sandblasting effect or wind abrasion. Sandblasting is also used in industrial applications where compressed air is used to pick particles of sand and blast them on a surface to smooth a rough surface, roughen a smooth surface, or remove a corrosive layer of surface. 

                 Abrasion wears away a solid object due to the impact of particles of sand carried by the wind. The wind carries sand particles and hits the rocks with them. This can cause the object to not only wear away, but become smooth. When wind hits a rock with sand particles, it smoothens one side of the rock. And when the wind direction changes, it flattens the other side to produce this type of rock, which is called a ventifact. Depending upon how low lying the rock relative to the wind and the direction of the wind, the rocks can be shaped into various shapes.

 POSSIBLE THEORIES: 

The rock is believed to be naturally formed but theorists believe a natural formation such as this is highly improbable, as natural corrosion could not have brought upon such a shape. Fact: This rock is bigger and heavier than the monolithic stones of Ollantaytambo, Peru or Machu Picchu.

 THE SCIENCE:

The rock is balanced upon a 4 feet area of the hill. Its simple physics that a structure needs a 250 ton rock has a far-fetched chance of resting on a 4 feet area for such a long period. To site imagery, imagine a ball on a slope, unless it has a heavy footing it rolls down pretty fast.

THE PUSH ATTEMPT:

In 1908 the then Governor of Madras Arthur Lawley decided the boulder to be too dangerous to nearby homes and wanted it removed. Seven elephants were employed to push the rock. But to everyone’s surprise the rock couldn’t be moved and the task was abandoned.

GOUTHAMI.S
TRAVEL TINKERS.