Mysteries of India: The levitating stone of Shivapur

[Xenocrates]

This is great travel writing and the mystery of the levitating stone is neat; a heavy stone can be levitated when eleven people (not ten, not twelve!) place one finger underneath it each and chant "Qamar Ali Darveeeeeesh":

http://www.margaretdeefholts.com/levitatingstone-shivapur.html

Another one:

http://www.indiaprofile.com/pilgrimage/shivapur.htm

Does anyone have an explanation or another inexplicable tale?

 

[thetrooper]

It's a giant piece of YBCO underneath that stone.

 

[silver 2039]

India is a holy place!!!

WooT!!

In India idols drink milk and water
The sea turns sweet as sugar
A shiva lingum forms itself every year out of ice
A holy tree expels clearly holy water
Godmen are every present and can preform great miracles
A picture of a godman forms on a flood ravanged wall in Surat
Men are ashamed to buy condoms

Clearly a sign that India is teh holy land. Worship it fools!!!

 

[Erik Mesoy]

Claim to explanation after some googling:

f) A sandstone ball of about 14" diameter is lifted by five, seven or eleven men who sing the name of saint, Kamarali Darvesh who is buried in the durgah at Shivpuri about 25 kilometers from Poona. The saint had died 700 years ago and is said to be buried in that durgah. This was considered to be a miracle and we exposed the same by lifting such stones on finger tips with just four persons. Lifting a weight on finger tips by people is based on the fact that all people use their force at the same time and lift up. Then upto 150 kgs. can be lifted by four persons using 8 finger tips. They also do not feel the entire weight as it is equally distributed on their eight fingers. Another fact is that the raising of the weight is done on the principle of leverage.

http://www.indian-skeptic.org/html/is_v01/1-5-10.htm

For those wishing to search more, note that "Shivapur" is sometimes spelled "Shivpuri" as above.

 

[Xenocrates]

Erik you cynic, worship India fool! That's what Mr T would say.

Anyway the explanation in your box doesn't do anything for me - principle of leverage? As far as each finger is concerned there's no difference. The index finger isn't as strong as the thumb and is longer. so I don't buy it.

If one man with ten fingers can't lift the stone, why should 11 fingers fom 11 men feel the stone weighs nothing? Plus the centre of mass is probably further away than it would be if a single man attempted the lift.

So there! Don't forget that the woman tried it with twelve men and it didn't work.

OK the only theory that I can think of is that the locals are all in on the secret and fail on purpose when the proper method isn't followed. What was that about worshipping India again Silver? More like be extra careful of Indian mystics or you might get cheated like the Beatles were.

 

[Masquerouge]

I'm sure this is true and will make us rethink everything we know about physics. Expect to frequently travel with 10 levitating companions soon.

 

[aneeshm]

I reserve judgment . I've seen and personally felt far too many weird things to blindly accept or reject anything that goes on in India .

I've heard flute music that refreshed me when I was tired and disappeared when I tried to consciously focus on it . And this has happened twice , both times when I was extremely tired .

I've had problems sort themselves out almost magically when I'm meditating - the solution to the problem , fully formed , just pops into my mind . This happened to me when I was dealing with a particularly knotty bug in my Comp. Sci. project for school - the answer to the problem just floated in from nowhere .

Once , during the school prayer , I tried to trick my mind into accepting that all the people there were praying to me ( as I am an expression of the divine spirit ) . It worked . For about three seconds , I was totally blissful - felt that life was pure happiness , and that I was on top of the world . I actually felt that I was God . As soon as I became conscious of it , and tried to analyse it , it went away . I doubt whether I'll feel anything like that ever again .

 

[Tank_Guy#3]

Nice trick, I didn't know the Indians employed David Copperfield.

 

[silver 2039]

If you ask me the greatest Indian miracle is how 10 men can fit into a single Maruthi 500 car with all their luggage. Or how two famalies with their groceries can fit into a single autorickshaws.
How a tiny truck (tempo) can carry the furniture of and entire houselhold plus three men clinging onto the back without falling.

Now those are true Indian miracles.

 

[Erik Mesoy]

Erik you cynic, worship India fool! That's what Mr T would say.

Insert witty comeback here. Or not.

Anyway the explanation in your box doesn't do anything for me - principle of leverage? As far as each finger is concerned there's no difference. The index finger isn't as strong as the thumb and is longer. so I don't buy it.

That the index finger is longer is just what leverage requires. The principle of leverage is that a small force over a long distance is the same as a large force over a small distance. Longer levers give you more of this.

If one man with ten fingers can't lift the stone, why should 11 fingers fom 11 men feel the stone weighs nothing?

Because each finger has about ten times the strength behind it.

Plus the centre of mass is probably further away than it would be if a single man attempted the lift.

The center of mass is in the middle of the stone. Where the men are standing does not affect the mass of the object being lifted. They will be affected by the normal force. Physics is teh bomb.

So there! Don't forget that the woman tried it with twelve men and it didn't work.

OK the only theory that I can think of is that the locals are all in on the secret and fail on purpose when the proper method isn't followed.

Doesn't have to be the case. The locals may very well fail when the proper method isn't followed without that being the purpose. Also, don't forget that the group I quoted tried it with four people and it did allegedly work.

 

[MobBoss]

This is great travel writing and the mystery of the levitating stone is neat; a heavy stone can be levitated when eleven people (not ten, not twelve!) place one finger underneath it each and chant "Qamar Ali Darveeeeeesh":

So they build Quijah boards really big in India. Big deal.

 

[Xenocrates]

Pah Erik I'm not being wholly serious here. I realise that a millenia old tomb is unlikely to point us the way to 22nd century physics. But it's an interesting story.

From the physics point of view, I assumed that it was the fingers that gave up, not the elbow or knee when a single guy tried to lift the stone and that the fingers would be bent with a single man lifting and straight when several were. I also assumed that there wasn't an imovable pivot point so the question wasn't reducable to simple levers (Just so you know I'm not as crazy as I often appear! )

Maybe the men are more confident about doing it when following the tradition. Maybe the cry gave them more strength (psychology).
Or maybe they cheated!

 

[Kyriakos]

Isnt India were the simple trick of physics that allows the fakirs (those who place their body on a bed of nails) to work their trade was believed for so many years to have been some sort of magic?

 

[Masquerouge]

Isnt India were the simple trick of physics that allows the fakirs (those who place their body on a bed of nails) to work their trade was believed for so many years to have been some sort of magic?

I guess Arthur C Clark comes to mind: "any sufficiently advanced technology is undistinguishable from magic".

 

[Erik Mesoy]

I guess Arthur C Clark comes to mind: "any sufficiently advanced technology is undistinguishable from magic".

Geek's Corollary: "Technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced."

 

[Winner]

I'll believe it when I see it.