Sanchaya
Collated from the Web
Sharing a curated collection of noteworthy information, resources, and
cultural insights discovered across the internet - focusing on
overlooked narratives and remarkable individuals doing exceptional work
across diverse fields.
31 Oct 2026
an actual carving of a man on a bicycle in the Panchavarnaswamy Temple
but a false claim that it is part of the original temple carvings. This
was perhaps a later addition in the1920s when the temple was
renovated. Sadly, originally shared social media posts have still
not been deleted.
The claim gained popularity after Vlogger Praveen Mohan published a
video showing the carving in the temple while hypothesizing it as
“Advanced Ancient Technology Proved?”. UK Media outlets- Daily Star
& Mirror– published articles days after the video was uploaded on
the Internet.
However, Dr Kalaikovan, an ophthalmologist who was the brain behind a
historical research centre based in Tiruchirappalli, gave a logical
explanation for the carving’s existence in the Chola-era temple. As told
to The Hindu, he was invited by the priest of the temple for a
thanksgiving prayer after he conducted a successful cataract operation
on him. Seeing the carving of a cycle in an ancient temple, he found it
funny and intriguing “but neither the officials nor the scholars who
wrote its history were able to explain how it came there.”
After studying the history of the bicycle and Chola-period Woraiyur
temple, Dr Kalaikovan theorised that the vehicle was possibly a novelty
in the city in the1920s when the temple was renovated. “Perhaps the
sculptor had seen someone on a cycle, was impressed by it and had
recorded it forever on stone,” explained Dr Kalaikovan to the media
outlet.
Source: Invention of bicycle credited to ancient India based on misleading photos by Jignesh Patel, 23 Nov 2019, altnews.in
|
|
|
