While a lot of the time, tourist attractions or religious heritage sites can be exaggerated in importance, if you think about it, taking a trip to visit a historical site isn’t such a bad idea.
For example, check out these caves in India, tied to the religion of Buddhism and astrotheological symbolism. Now they are visible to the public and articles like this can be written, but for generations they remained hidden.
There’s some kind of strange feeling a person encounters when they are underground in a cavernous region.
Caves are a place where you might find a precious mineral, ore, or a substance of use to people. They are also exploited for resources, and if the cave has been turned into a mine, it could be mercury toxic. Serfs were once sent into mines to do work in Europe, mining for gold despite a certainty of horrible mercury toxicity.
In 1819, a British officer participating in the unjust conquering of the land of India, John Smith “discovered” the strange entrance to this cavernous area while hunting a tiger outside of Mumbai, India deep in the forest. Like the “discovery” of South American pyramids for example, this was an incredible thing independently made by the Indian people, not something quite “discovered” by a conquering army.
A bewildering array of man-made carvings were found inside the cave by the British conqueror. However, that was just the beginning.
Upon looking further inside the cave, murals that gave brief clues into the purpose of the cavernous region were found.
Even more is being discovered at the location in recent times, but in the early 1800’s when this was all re-discovered, a massively complex system of monuments and shrines thought to be a part of the Buddhist traditions were found. They were carved directly into the rock in the cave.
Roughly 30 distinct caves in the system can be distinguished. They are known as the Ajanta Caves.
Surprisingly there is a disconnect between what the people of India believe this cave means, and the meaning interpreted by the west. Experts estimate that around 200 BCE, these caves were constructed for the purpose of sheltering Buddhist monks during the intense rain of the Indian monsoon season.
Incredibly intricate, architecturally admirable entrances are carved before these caves.
By the 7th century, the habitation was mostly abandoned. Since the 7th century, locals have considered the site a sacred place to visit, even for people not necessarily of the Buddhist faith.
If you’re wondering just how “Buddhist” these carvings are, a majority of them actually depict the life of Buddha throughout his various incarnations.
Paintings on the cave walls are also surprisingly well preserved today.
Significant color remains in the cave paintings, with a little help from art history experts helping to preserve them, according to online articles about the caves.
Now here’s arguably the most interesting thing about these caves. They are supposedly aligned with the summer and winter solstices, and the equinoxes. Exactly how the site is aligned with the stars is difficult to quantify, but in a few ways the symbolism is extremely obvious.
The locations of caves 19 and 26 actually do perfectly align with the winter and summer solstices. That’s truly amazing. Is there a spiritual reason these people did this? Is the human soul somehow connected to the Sun and the planets?
On the summer and winter solstices, straight through holes in the roofs of these caves, the sun shines through. These ancient people could sit in the solstice caves, and bathe in the sunlight from the solstice only at the exact moment the Sun entered the constellations of Cancer or Capricorn.
If you take a look at the interiors of these caves, after over 2,000 years they still look quite pristine.
If you think about it, these caves seem to be all about astrology. Astronomical events affecting the human soul, culture and the feeling of people on Earth, that’s something that seems to be found in just about every large ancient site like this you can name.
It’s also a mystery how people put so much effort into constructing these amazing spiritual monuments.
One thing is for sure: the powers that be don’t like us to bear the most important intellectual and spiritual truths of antiquity.
via:
boredomtherapy
