Little is known about the heroes of Indian myths, the nivatakavachas. They are mentioned in the Vishnu Purana, Mahabharata and several other ancient Indian sources. The name nivatakavach (nivatakavah) is translated from Sanskrit as "the one whose armor is impenetrable" (BL Smirnov, 1962), or as "dressed in impenetrable armor" (Ya. V. Vasilkova and S. L. Nevelova, 1987).
The most realistic candidate for the role of Vedic super-creatures in shells is the kappa from Japanese legends.
Kappa (Japanese 河 童: "river child") is a Japanese variety of aquatic. Kappa is known throughout Japan, however, depending on the area of the country, its name or appearance may vary slightly. There are also various related species, such as: seko - kappa, who climbed into the mountains at the age of 2-3 years; mintutsi - a creature from Ainu mythology, a ghostly half-man-half-beast; suiko is a creature that is also found in Chinese and Japanese mythology, literally translated as "water tiger".
The most common artistic image of the kappa is a cross between a frog and a turtle: frog skin, instead of a nose - a beak, fingers and toes can be connected by swimming membranes, short hair on the head, and a turtle shell on the back. The body exudes a fishy odor.
At the top of the head, the mouthguard has something like a saucer that gives him paranormal and psychic abilities. It must always be filled with water, otherwise the kappa will lose its power or even die.
The two hands of the mouthguard are connected to each other in the area of the shoulder blades, and if you pull on one, the other will compress or even fall out of the joint. Kappa don't like iron.
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Approximately 30% of all artistic depictions of mouthguards are mouthguards that look like monkeys: the whole body is covered with hair, there are fangs in the mouth, the nose is practically invisible, there is a big toe on the hands, and a heel bone on the legs. Unlike the usual mouthguard, instead of a saucer on the head, there is an oval saucer-shaped depression; the tortoise shell may not be present.
Typical habitat is a river or swamp, but there are rumors about sea kappa.
It is believed that kappa loves pranks, but does not harm a person. However, there are also stories that kappa pulls people passing by or swimming near the water into the water and drowns them.
The three hundred million nivatakavacas mentioned in the Mahabharata are a very high figure for living beings. However, if we talk not about creatures as tall as a person, but about smaller ones, then the figure seems no longer so unreal. Three hundred million "turtles" are not the same as three hundred million people.
The tortoise-like appearance, however, should not be misleading. If the kappa civilization (nivatakavachi) had developed extrasensory abilities, then this could well compensate for their small size compared to humans.
Communication without words at the level of consciousness and reading thoughts (telepathy), the ability to see and hear at a great distance, the ability to levitate, anti-gravity control for the construction of temples from megaliths, movement of objects by the effort of thought (telekinesis), remote hypnotic mind control of any living beings on a large distance. With such a set of superpowers, lack of muscle mass, underdevelopment of muscles and small stature generally lose any meaning!
Near the Japanese Islands, the megalithic city of Yonaguni was recently discovered under water. To be very precise, the underwater megalithic temple is located in the waters of Yonaguni Island, in the Yaeyama group, Sakishima Islands, Ryukyu (Nansei) archipelago. This is the westernmost territory of Japan. The island is located 125 kilometers off the east coast of Taiwan at the end of the Ryukyu group of islands. The area of the island is 28.88 km², and the population is 1581 (data from 2011).
In 1985, divers discovered a striking underwater rock formation. This “Yonaguni Monument” has stair-like terraces with flat, straight sides and sharp corners. Because of these features, some scientists believe that this is an artificially created (or processed) structure that is thousands of years old. The building is 24 meters high, more than 55 meters long and about 20 meters wide. The top of the structure is only five meters deep. It is believed that this structure sank to the seabed at least 8,000 years ago. And it was built even earlier!
Is this the capital of the Nivatakavachas destroyed by Arjuna ?!
Author: A. V. Koltypin