Our country is a land of mysteries and one such is Krishna’s butter ball. No this is not some world record of biggest butter ball but a historical marvel which never fails to amaze the people who witness it.
It is located in Mahabalipuram in Kancheepuram district of Tamil Nadu. The city is being mentioned in many historical texts and of course the history books. The city is known for its historical stone carvings. Also known at the world level because of the butter ball – a 20 meter high and 5 meter wide rock balanced on a hill slope. And the hill is so slippery that kids even enjoy sliding on it. Locals have named it butter ball as Lord Krishna was very fond of butter. In Tamil, it’s called ‘Vaanirai Kal’, which means the ‘Stone of the Sky God’.
The rock is believed to have been naturally formed, but theorists deny it. As per them, such a formation is not possible with natural soil erosion and other involved processes.
The Governor of Madras in 1908 Arthur Lawley considered it to be dangerous and thought of getting it down. Little did he realize that if something can stand for more than 1000 years, it cannot be forced to slide downhill. Nonetheless, he decided to deploy seven elephants to pull the rock down. But to everyone’s surprise the rock didn’t move an inch.
As per an architect, there are two reasons for the rock to be balanced the way it is.. Friction and Center Of Gravity.
Friction prevents the rock from sliding, conceptually similar to how we stand on a slope. Center of gravity allows it to balance on a small contact area.
But what actually balances it remains a mystery till date!
