Wrath of Jealous Gods? – By B.K. Parthasarathy



B.K.   Parthasarathy  writes   about  a   spectacular  underwater archaeological  find  by a  joint British-Indian diving team that could rewrite history.

Who  would have  thought  a city  that could  be  older than  the Harappan  civilization could be lying beneath water right off the coast of Mahabalipuram?

Sometimes,  it pays to listen to the stories of humble fishermen.Local  fishermen in the coast of Mahabalipuram in Tamil Nadu have for centuries believed in that a great flood consumed a city over 1,000 years ago in a single day when the gods grew jealous of its beauty.

The  myths of Mahabalipuram were written down by British traveler J. Goldingham, who visited the town in 1798, at which time it was known  to  sailors as the  Seven Pagodas.  Legend had it that six temples were submerged beneath the waves, with the seventh temple still standing on the seashore.

Best-selling  British  author  and  television  presenter  Graham Hancock  took  these stories seriously. The hypothesis that there may  be ruins  underwater off the coast of Mahabalipuram has been around  at least  since  the eighteenth  century among  scholarly circles.

“I  have long  regarded Mahabalipuram, because of its flood myths and  fishermen’s  sightings  as  a very  likely  place  in  which discoveries  of  underwater  structures  could  be  made,  and  I proposed  that  a diving  expedition should be undertaken there,” said Hancock.

Hancock’s   initiative  resulted  in  the  Dorset,  England-based Scientific  Exploration Society and India’s National Institute of Oceanography  joining hands.  In April this year, the team made a spectacular discovery

The  SES announced:  “A joint  expedition of  25 divers  from the Scientific  Exploration Society and India’s National Institute of Oceanography  led  by  Monty  Halls  and  accompanied  by  Graham Hancock,  have discovered  an  extensive area  with  a series  of structures  that clearly  show man made attributes, at a depth of
5-7 meters offshore of Mahabalipuram in Tamil Nadu.

“The  scale of the submerged ruins, covering several square miles and  at  distances of  up to a  mile from shore,  ranks this as a major  marine-archaeological  discovery  as  spectacular  as  the ruined cities submerged off Alexandria in Egypt.”
India’s   NIO  said   in  a  statement:  “A  team  of  underwater archaeologists  from  National Institute of Oceanography NIO have successfully  `unearthed’ evidence  of  submerged structures  off Mahabalipuram  and established  first-ever proof  of the  popular belief  that the  Shore temple of Mahabalipuram is the remnant of series  of total  seven  of  such temples  built  that have  been submerged  in  succession. The discovery  was made during a joint underwater  exploration  with the Scientific Exploration Society, U.K.”

NIO said:
Underwater  investigations were  carried  out at  5 locations  in the 5 – 8 m water depths, 500 to 700 m off Shore temple.

Investigations  at  each  location  have shown  presence  of  the construction  of  stone masonry,  remains of  walls, a big square rock   cut   remains,  scattered  square  and  rectangular  stone blocks,  big platform  leading  the  steps to  it  amidst of  the geological formations of the rocks that occur locally.

Most  of the  structures are  badly  damaged and  scattered in  a vast  area, having  biological growth  of barnacles,  mussels and other organisms.

The  construction pattern  and area,  about 100m  X 50m,  appears to  be  same at each  location. The  actual area covered by ruins may extend well beyond the explored locations.

The  possible  date of  the  ruins  may  be 1500-1200  years  BP. Pallava   dynasty,   ruling  the  area  during  the  period,  has constructed   many  such  rock  cut  and  structural  temples  in Mahabalipuram and Kanchipuram.

The last claim is questioned by Hancock, who says a scientist has told him it could be 6,000 years old.

Durham University geologist Glenn Milne told him in an e-mail: “I had  a chat  with some  of  my colleagues  here in  the dept.  of geological  sciences and it is probably reasonable to assume that there  has been  very  little vertical  tectonic  motion in  this region  [i.e. the coastal region around Mahabalipuram] during the past  five thousand  years or so. Therefore, the dominant process driving sea-level change will have been due to the melting of the
Late  Pleistocene  ice  sheets.  Looking at  predictions  from  a computer  model of  this process suggests that the area where the structures  exist  would have  been submerged around six thousand years  ago. Of  course, there  is some  uncertainty in  the model predictions  and so  there is  a flexibility  of roughly  plus or minus one thousand years is this date.”

If  that  were  true,  it would  be  a  spectacular  development. Previous  archaeological  opinion recognizes  no culture in India 6,000 years ago capable of building anything much.Hancock  says this  discovery  proves scientists  should be  more open-minded. “I have argued for many years that the world’s flood myths  deserve  to be  taken seriously, a  view that most Western academics  reject. “But here in Mahabalipuram, we have proved the myths right and the academics wrong.”

Hancock believes far more research needs to be done on underwater relics.“Between  17,000 years  ago and 7000 years ago, at the end of the last Ice Age, terrible things happened to the world our ancestors lived  in,” he  says. “Great  ice caps  over northern  Europe and north  America melted  down, huge floods ripped across the earth,
sea-level  rose by  more than  100 meters,  and about  25 million square  kilometers  of formerly habitable lands were swallowed up by the waves.

“Marine  archaeology  has been possible as a scholarly disciplinefor  about  50 years —  since the  introduction of scuba. In that time,  according  to Nick  Flemming, the  doyen of British marine archaeology,  only  500 submerged sites have been found worldwide containing  the  remains of any  form of man-made structure or of lithic  artifacts.  Of these sites  only 100  — that’s 100 in the whole world! — are more than 3000 years old.”

Hancock, who was understandably resentful about the NIO’s silence in  his pivotal role in making the diving expedition happen — SES gave  him full recognition — was himself quite generous about who deserved the greatest credit:

“Of  course  the  real  discoverers  of  this  amazing  and  very extensive   submerged   site   are   the   local   fishermen   of Mahabalipuram.  My  role was simply to  take what they had to say seriously  and to  take the town’s powerful and distinctive flood myths   seriously.  Since   no  diving  had  ever  been  done  to
investigate  these neglected myths and sightings I decided that a proper  expedition  had to be mounted.  To this end, about a year ago,  I brought together my friends at the Scientific Exploration Society  in Britain and the National Institute of Oceanography in India  and we  embarked  on  the long  process  that has  finally culminated  in  the discovery of  a major and hitherto completely unknown submerged archaeological site.”

Interested  readers  can visit  the following  Web sites for more information. Graham Hancock’s Web site at http://www.grahamhancock.com