The Krishna’s butterball is a giant balancing rock of granite, 5 mtrs in dia, perched on a smooth slope in the town of Mahabalipuram, TN, seemingly defying all laws of physics.
Weighing 250 tons it stands on a slippery hill on less than 4ft base at a slope of 45 degrees.
It’s original name is Vaan Irai Kal. In Tamil language, it means “Stone of the Sky God”. The rock is said to be bigger and heavier than the monolithic stoned of Ollantaytambo, Peru and bigger than the rocks found in the mysterious Manchu Picchu.
Rounds of debate circle around the formation of rock, its position, corrosion, and shape. Even today, moving a 250-ton rock uphill would be a difficult and would require complex equipment. The rock is believed to be naturally formed but theorists believe a natural formation as this is questionable, as corrosion could not have brought such spherical shape. Despite looking round, the top-back part of the rock is sheared off, & that’s visible only from backside. The reason for it is unknown, as natural erosion couldn’t have brought a rock to such shape.
One of the local believe is that the Pallava King Narasimhavarman made 1st attempt to remove this rock, as it was believed that ‘heavenly rock’ should not be touched by sculptors. It remained in its position and did not move a little bit.
Further Butterball became an inspiration behind the famous mud dolls called Tanjavur Bommai. As the King Raja Raja Chola was impressed by the way rock stands on such a small base & did not roll down a slope. Thus, a tradition developed from here to make mud dolls that never fell.
This was made on a half-spherical bottom which allows tilting but never falling down. In one of the many attempts to move the rock the then Governor of Madras Arthur Lawley considered the harm it would cause to the village at the foothill and ordered seven elephants to move it.
However, the rock didn’t move an inch and they gave up leaving Krishna’s butterball at its place.
A huge boulder as Krishna’s butterball instigates a thought that how meager section of science is known today. It is a beautiful amalgamation of nature, science, history, and culture.