Agastya and Ravana - Mythology & Science Ep. 2

 Hello and welcome to the 2nd episode of Mythology and Science, in which I narrate stories from Indian and Greek mythology and their scientific implications. Mythological stories explain the complex of ideas to the simplest of people. While it takes you on a fantastic ride it also drives home the point. In this video, I’m going to tell you one such story.

The Saptarishis or the seven sages were the first to learn Yoga from Lord Shiva. One of them was chosen by the Lord to be of service in southern India, that is sage Agastya or Agathiyar. He was short and stout and the most knowledgeable of the Saptarishis. He compiled the grammar of Tamil which is one of the oldest classical languages in the world. He also wrote many verses of the Rig veda along with his wife Lopa Mudra. When you are so awesome and grounded, there will always be someone around to make sure you get into trouble.



Such a person was sage Narada, the gossip monger of the cosmos. He decided to have some fun and paid a visit to Ravana. Yes, the same Ravana who later abducted Sita. Narada’s standard operating procedure is to first shower praises and later provoke self-doubt. So, he began, “Oh Ravana! King of the prosperous Lanka, man of many facets. You are an excellent administrator, a mighty warlord, scholar of the Vedas and connoisseur of arts and literature. No one can play the veenai as deftly as you, but for…..”

    Ravana’s guards were up. When you are so awesome but let it get to your head , you lose balance and become big headed or in this case, multiheaded. The king who was too haughty for his own good asked “But for who?”. Naradar then spoke highly of Agathiyar and said that people think his skill at playing the veenai is unmatched. That was enough to rattle Ravana who immediately went to Agathiyar’s hermitage in the forest and insisted the sage to fight a Veenai duel with him. The humble sage invoked the Lord’s blessings and agreed. Ravana pointed to the rocky hill nearby and said that whoever can melt the hill with his music will be the winner.



The competition had a flamboyant start with Ravana playing first and then Agathiyar, both of them took turns to play countering, each other’s signature style. It was like a war between Justin Beiber and Kim Taehyung. The disciples in the hermitage, ministers and guards who accompanied the king all watched in wonderment. The battle was long and intense, Ravana was desperate to win and declare himself the greatest veenai artist ever. As he frantically plucked the instrument, the strings snapped off and he couldn't play anymore. It was finally Agathiyar’s turn and while he was playing the hill began to heat up, melt and crumbled down to the ground. Agathiyar won and Ravana was humbled.

Click on the link to enjoy this story in video format - https://youtu.be/nQ739hiCrVA

Subscribe to my youtube channel 'Balancing Act' for more such interesting videos.


  This story gives rise to many questions, let's take them one by one.

1. Can rocks be melted?

Yes, out of the 3 types of rocks, Igneous rocks are the easiest to melt at 1260 C. They are originally molten lava spewed out of the volcanoes that have cooled and hardened over time. Granite is an Igneous rock and is found in abundance in South India where this story took place. Wow!

2. Can sound melt granite?

  No, sound waves do produce heat, they are also absorbed as heat by the surface it touches but that heat is far too less to be making any difference to even a pebble, if not a hill. Scientists say that if you continuously scream at your cup of coffee, you can heat it up in 600 days. So, according to present day scientific knowledge, you cannot melt a hill with heat from sound. Hm... what a bummer!

 So, we can wait for modern science to catch up or look at another version of the story in which the challenge was not to melt the hill but to simply break and crush it.

3. Can sound break rocks?

Yes, ongoing research states that, just like using laser lights for rock cutting ultrasound can also be used for the purpose. Rocks can be cut with ultrasonic vibrations at the frequency of 20,000 Hz. But such high frequency sounds cannot be heard by humans and the veenai can only produce a maximum of 6,500 Hz.

  It does’nt add up right? My dear folks, lo and behold, the hero of my research, Resonant Frequency!

  Everyone and everything in this world naturally vibrate at a certain frequency that is unique to them. When a nearby external element matches or resonates with the natural frequency of an object, it tends to vibrate with vigor and if that continues long enough, the object will crack and break. A common example of that is an opera singer breaking a wine glass with her voice. Another example is that of a battalion of English soldiers marching on the Broughton suspension bridge. The frequency of the synchronized marching resonated with the natural frequency of the bridge, making it swing up and down and break.

  According to this story, Ravana and Agathiyar were trying to break a granite hill that might have already had cracks and crevices. The natural frequency of granite is 6900 Hz and the veenai is 6500 Hz. While that is so amazingly close, there is still a difference of 400 Hz. The frequency of the veenai that I mention here is measured from a modern one that uses metal strings for plucking but traditionally, the plucks were made from the nerves and tendons of animal carcasses. In all probability that veenai must have produced a higher frequency and matched with that of the hill. The competitors played it long enough at the right frequency for the rocky hill to eventually break and crumble.

    Hm.... these dudes just went about crushing mountains with their veenais. How cool is that!

Just think about it,

 The veenai feebles in comparison to a Nadaswaram or a Thavil much louder. But of all the classical instruments, veenai produces the highest frequency. Was Ravana aware of that?

He chose to break a rocky hill, the natural frequency of which is the same as what the instrument could produce. How did he know that?

Perhaps it was a co incidence. Probably it was deliberate.

Tell me what you think about this in the comments. Do visit the description box for amazing research materials on this topic and I’ll meet you soon with another mind-blowing story.

Ciao!


References

Can rocks be melted?

https://everythingwhat.com/can-you-melt-a-rock

https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/84958/can-stone-be-recycled-by-melting-and-cooling-it

Sound produces heat

https://wtamu.edu/~cbaird/sq/2015/11/05/can-sound-waves-generate-heat/#:~:text=Yes%2C%20sound%20waves%20can%20generate,movement%20of%20atoms%20and%20molecules

https://www.physicscentral.com/explore/poster-coffee.cfm

Resonance - Marching soldiers break bridge

https://www.livescience.com/34608-break-stride-frequency-of-vibration.html#:~:text=In%20April%201831%2C%20a%20brigade,of%20men%20into%20the%20water

Resonance – Opera singer breaks glass with voice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc27GxSD_bI

https://earthsky.org/human-world/resonant-frequency

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9p26ltGlPtg

Breaking kidney stones with sound

https://www.healthline.com/health/lithotripsy#how-it-works

https://www.uofmhealth.org/health-library/hw204232#:~:text=Extracorporeal%20shock%20wave%20lithotripsy%20(ESWL)%20uses%20shock%20waves%20to%20break,to%20precisely%20locate%20the%20stone

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2442574/

Ultrasonic rock cutting (granite)

file:///C:/Users/user/Downloads/applsci-10-05868%20(1).pdf

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271621282_Hybrid_cutting_of_granite_by_use_of_ultrasonic_assistance

Veena produces upto 6.5 KHz of sound waves

http://raiith.iith.ac.in/1812/1/ME13M1002.pdf

https://www.jvejournals.com/article/16930/pdf

Indian musical instruments and their spectra

https://insa.nic.in/writereaddata/UpLoadedFiles/PINSA/Vol31A_1965_1_Art09.pdf

https://www.jvejournals.com/article/16932/pdf

Granite and resonance

https://www.hindawi.com/journals/sv/2019/6326510/

https://www.hindawi.com/journals/ace/2019/9649165/


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