A huge granite boulder, 5 meters in diameter, rises menacingly on a smooth slope, contrary to all the laws of physics. It is located on a hillside near the Ganesha Rata temple in Mahabalipuram, an Indian city located about 60 kilometers south of Chennai city.
Today, this mysterious gigantic stone is called "Krishna's Butter Ball", although its original name is "Vaan Irai Kal". Translated from Tamil (the original language of this land), the name means: "Stone of Heavenly Deity."
According to Hindu mythology, the god Krishna had a good appetite for butter, and as a child he would often stealthily take a handful of butter from his mother's jar. The mysterious huge natural boulder is the embodiment of the balls of butter that Krishna stole.
Many dream to see this mysterious 250-ton rock tilted at a 45-degree angle on a slippery, gentle hill. It, despite all efforts, cannot be moved from its place by any forces and means. The unusual hulk is an interesting background for some pretty extraordinary photographs. Some visitors are photographed with their hands under the stone, which in the photograph looks like they are supporting it. The boulder provides cool shade, and the slippery side of the mountain is a great downhill slide.
It seems that a giant boulder is about to roll down, but this has not happened in 1300 years. The first who tried to move this stone, according to ancient myths, was the Pallava king Narasimha-varman, who ruled in South India in 630-668. AD It is clear that it did not work to remove it, and then the king issued a decree according to which the stone was declared a heavenly manifestation, and it was forbidden to touch it. However, his order was not carried out, and, despite all efforts, the boulder remained in place.
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In 1908, Arthur Lawley, Governor of Madras, considered this boulder too dangerous. Worried that the stone might slide off the mountain at any time, he ordered to be moved elsewhere with the help of seven elephants. But the stone did not move even an inch and the Indian government gave up all attempts to move it, leaving the "Krishna's oil ball" where it is now.
The mystery of the unusual granite boulder remains unsolved.
The city of Mahabalipuram emerged in the 7th century AD. e. as the main port of the Pallavian kingdom called Mamallapuram (probably named after one of the kings). From the era of the Pallavs (VII-IX centuries), various monuments of monumental sculpture and architecture, carved into monolithic rocks and saturated with Buddhist motifs, have survived.
Today Mahabalipuram is an exclusively tourist city and one of the main attractions in the area of the larger city of Chennai. People visit this place to look at the magnificent rock paintings, temples, cave sanctuaries, giant rock reliefs with scenes of Arjuna's repentance and the "Fall of the Ganges to earth" and the Pancha Rata temple with five gigantic stone chariots, which are named after the Pandavas … Mahabalipuram is the object of the World UNESCO heritage.