After spending all day yesterday dealing with the madness that is the Delhi rail station, James and I decided to go sightseeing today. We went to see the tallest brick structure in the world at the Qutb Minar complex. They used to let you up the 72 meter spire, until 40 people were trampled to death at the exit. While the minaret is impressive, it was the 7 meter iron pillar that really got our attention. It was forged around 400AD, and is 99% pure. That level of metallurgy wasn’t achieved in the west until the middle ages. This leads James to believe that it is really an alien artifact, a theory that the inscription seems to verify. There is also a 45 meter hole in the ground (measured by our inaccurate spit-timing method). Deep well, or entrance to the hidden tunnel complex? Further exploration is clearly needed. We plan to return with rapelling gear and torches.
laurie levinger
josh,
these are quite the sights! thanks for sharing them with us.
love, mom
ps I give rupees (or in my case quetzales) to beggars too, though I understand the “counterproductive” theory.
Josh
Apparently some Indian nationalists found this post, and told me via Twitter that I’m a “hasbara jew who’s trying to modify Indian Hindu civilization history.”
Let the record reflect that I am not in the least bit involved in hasbara (Israeli government propaganda), as my other posts concerning the occupation of Palestine should make clear.
And the “ancient aliens” notion was a joke. The iron pillar was forged around 400AD, and it’s longevity in a humid climate is due to phosphate impurities which form a submillimeter rust-protective layer. Here’s a paper in Corrosion Science that explains the phenomenon in great detail.
Thanks for the hits, guys!