Ancient Aliens s11e15 Episode Script
Shiva the Destroyer
JONATHAN YOUNG: To devout Hindus, Shiva is a real being who walked among us.
ERICH VON DANIKEN: Shiva came down from these cities on the firmament.
He's the leader of a group of extraterrestrials.
Shiva was a force for incredible good, but also a force for incredible destruction.
And he is said to have this trident which could annihilate anything in its path.
DAVID WILCOCK: In the Hindu tradition, you have to have destruction in order to have creation.
And it may be that Shiva will determine the future of the human race.
NARRATOR: Since the dawn of civilization, mankind has credited its origins to gods and other visitors from the stars.
What if it were true? Did extraterrestrial beings really help to shape our history? And if so, might humanity's fate be determined by Shiva the Destroyer? NARRATOR: India.
Covering over 1.
2 million square miles, it is the world's seventh-largest country.
And with 1.
3 billion people, it is the second most populated.
Roughly 80% of the Indian population practices Hinduism, the world's oldest surviving religion that dates back to at least 2000 BC.
And for the Hindu faithful, their gods are not mythological, but are real beings that have, at times, been present here on Earth.
YOUNG: These many gods and goddesses have different stories and different energies and different principles that they represent.
For many of the Hindu faithful, the gods are absolutely real.
They exist physically, although they may not always be visible.
In general, compared to Western belief systems, the tangible reality of the gods is much stronger in India.
I've grown up as a Hindu in a strict Hindu family, so I know all the Vedas and epics.
You know, I've read them hundreds of times.
Hindus believe that the gods came down from the sky.
DEEPAK SHIMKHADA: Hindus believe that these stories are not simply myth.
They are historical records, because they are actually called itihasa-- itihasa meaning "history.
" NARRATOR: While in the Judeo-Christian tradition, God is depicted as an all-powerful being, in the Vedic texts, Hindu gods often rely on the use of technology.
This has led ancient astronaut theorists to pose the question: is it possible that these religious texts describe not only encounters with the divine, but also with extraterrestrial beings? The Western mindset is different from that of India, where they accept the idea of extraterrestrial beings.
The Hindu story of the Mahabharata is loaded with references to what seems to be extraterrestrial technology.
You've got flying vehicles.
You've got weapons that are voice-activated.
And you have destructions of civilizations by what seems like nuclear detonation.
VON DANIKEN: In the Mahabharata, there they write that one day gigantic cities surrounded the Earth.
They did not have a word for "spaceship" at that time.
They say "cities.
" And they make clear difference that these cities were in the firmament, not in heaven.
And small vehicles came down from these cities of the firmament.
The old Indians called these vehicles vimanas.
And out of the vimanas, the teachers came out.
No doubt we were visited by extraterrestrials.
NARRATOR: Is the Hindu tradition a story of extraterrestrial visitation? Ancient astronaut theorists say yes, and suggest that this was orchestrated by an otherworldly being known in Hinduism as Lord Shiva.
Shiva is Shiva is also called Mahadeva.
Mahadeva means "great god.
" So he is god of gods.
He's the head of all gods, and he's also the most powerful god.
Shiva has a dual function.
One of his functions is destruction.
The other one is creation.
Without destruction, there is no creation.
NARRATOR: Depictions of Shiva embody this idea of destruction and creation.
Shiva is most often shown holding a drum called a damaru, which he used to create the universe.
Around his neck is a cobra poised to strike.
In one hand, Shiva holds a powerful trident-like weapon of destruction called the trishula, and in the center of his forehead, he has a third eye.
Shiva is the only god that has a depicted with third eye.
If his third eye opens, a very powerful light, uh, fire emits from his third eye, and anything that it sees, it destroys totally.
Usually, when you talk about the third eye, it's about enlightenment.
And then there is this other third eye, this third eye that was able to annihilate things.
I don't think they're the same thing.
So the question is: What was it? And what was Shiva? Shiva appeared at a very crucial time when, uh, two gods-- Brahma is the creator, and Vishnu, the preserver-- were debating who is greater.
All of a sudden, this blinding light, shaft of light, appeared that has no end or beginning.
And then this voice came out of this light, said that, "I am the greatest.
I am the greatest god there is.
" TSOUKALOS: Shiva is almost always surrounded by some type of a circular structure with flames.
Now, what did our human ancestor artists try to depict here? Was he perhaps inside some type of a fiery craft? It is possible that Shiva is the same extraterrestrial that other cultures call by different names.
Enki, Odin, Zeus, Viracocha, Quetzalcoatl, Kukulkan.
NARRATOR: The earliest Vedic texts were first written roughly 4,000 years ago, but Hindus claim that the stories originated hundreds and perhaps even thousands of years earlier, existing as part of an oral tradition passed down from one generation to the next.
And ancient astronaut theorists suggest that Shiva first arrived here on Earth at a time before the existence of modern humans, and before the event known, in the Biblical tradition, as the Great Flood.
Every culture around the world that has any type of ancient writings or documents or even oral traditions, they always talk about some kind of great flood that had a massive catastrophic effect, and utterly wiped out much of life on Earth in a single day.
What I find interesting about this is that Shiva is the god of destruction.
In the Hindu tradition, you have to have destruction in order to have creation.
Is there a connection there? (speaking Russian) TRANSLATOR: Tibetan lamas claim that, after the Flood, when the whole Earth flooded, and the waters gradually receded, man was created anew by means of the seed that was guarded by Shiva.
NARRATOR: Is it possible that Shiva was an extraterrestrial visitor that was responsible for both the creation and destruction of an earlier race of Earthlings? And if so, did he do this to clear the way for modern humans? Ancient astronaut theorists suggest further clues can be found by examining a mysterious temple in northern India and what might lie beneath it.
LAYNE LITTLE: One of the more mysterious aspects of the site of Ellora are the tunnels.
Tunnels like these lead to a vast city under Kailasa Temple.
NARRATOR: Aurangabad, India.
200 miles northeast of Mumbai stands a monolithic temple complex known as the Ellora Caves.
These 34 sites of worship, extending over a mile, were carved out of a high cliff, and are believed to date back to between 600 and 1000 AD.
Cave 16, known as Kailasa Temple, is a massive shrine to Lord Shiva.
At three stories high, it stands twice as tall as the Parthenon in Athens, and archaeologists believe it was chiseled out of the hillside starting at the top and ending at the bottom.
Some historians estimate that construction of the temple required the removal of over 400,000 tons of rock, but even more incredible is that mainstream archaeologists propose that this feat was accomplished in just 18 years.
If people worked every day for that 18 years, for 12 hours straight with no breaks, then they would have to have removed five tons of rock every hour.
This is ten thousand pounds of rock every hour.
In reality, such a feat is not even possible today with modern technology.
If it happened in 18 years, it is very hard to account for Another baffling fact is that if they removed 400,000 tons of rocks, they have to be thrown away somewhere.
But we do not find any evidence of rocks being piled up nearby.
Uh, it hasn't been used to build any other temples or any other structure.
Where did all that rock go? NARRATOR: Could humans living over 1,000 years ago really have constructed Kailasa Temple in only 18 years? And if so, how is it that all the rock that was excavated has simply disappeared? Perhaps further clues can be found by examining a powerful device described in the ancient Vedic texts.
Interestingly, there is a device called Bhaumastra mentioned in the ancient Vedic texts.
This high-tech machine would be able to quickly drill into the rock and basically vaporize them.
This could basically change the rock into air.
This device was mentioned multiple times in ancient Vedic texts, which was used to mine for precious stones and metals.
Could this be how Kailasa Temple was built? NARRATOR: Is it possible that the Bhaumastra machine described in the Vedic texts was really a technological device that existed on Earth thousands of years ago? Ancient astronaut theorists say yes, but suggest it was used not to build Kailasa Temple from the top down, as mainstream scholars propose, but carved out the structure from the bottom up.
One of the more mysterious aspects of the site of Ellora are the tunnels that seem to go nowhere at the site.
Some of them turn at odd angles.
Some go as deep as 40 feet.
Now the reasons for this are, for the most part, unknown.
This is one of the tunnels leading underground at the Kailasa Temple.
You can see that the local authorities have fenced this off.
But if you look through this hole, you can see that this tunnel goes vertically down.
Local authorities believe that tunnels like these lead to a vast underground city under Kailasa Temple.
NARRATOR: What could be the purpose for these tunnels below Kailasa Temple? And why are they fenced off from the public? In 1876, renowned English spiritualist Emma Hardinge Britten published Ghost Land, in which she writes of hidden tunnels beneath the Ellora Caves and the meetings of a secret cabal of mystics in an underground city.
Britten tells of spiritually contacting a mysterious figure named Cavalier Louie, who witnessed the clandestine society.
LITTLE: Cavalier Louie states that he was taken into the site of Ellora, where he was led through a secret passageway into an underground chamber.
The underground chamber opened up into a huge amphitheater, and there were these wondrous metallic thrones that were being charged with powerful galvanic batteries that rose up into the air.
And seated on these thrones were seven mysterious hooded figures.
But the most interesting one was the one in the center who spoke, and yet was not always there.
His body shimmered in and out of physical space and time.
NARRATOR: But why would vast rooms and tunnels exist deep underground beneath Kailasa Temple? Ancient astronaut theorists suggest this could be further evidence that Lord Shiva has a connection with the Great Flood.
CHILDRESS: We have a great deluge that changed the face of the Earth and forced people underground.
So you have to wonder, is this some kind of ancient city, many thousands of years old, that was once some kind of extraterrestrial base? And as the water receded, they create this temple from underground.
Presently, archaeologists date the Kailasa Temple from the fifth to the tenth century AD.
But there is nothing in the temple that really gives it a date.
And, in fact, like many things in ancient India, and-and around the world, uh, these temples may be much, much older than the mainstream archeologists are saying.
NARRATOR: Could it be that hidden beneath Kailasa Temple is an underground alien city? And if so, would this prove that the being Hindus call Shiva was really an extraterrestrial visitor who gave technology to an earlier race of humans and ultimately destroyed them? Perhaps further clues can be found by examining a sacred icon believed to hold extraordinary power.
McGOWAN: The Shiva Linga stone actually can be a force for incredible destruction.
HENRY: We're dealing with some kind of cosmic power that we didn't fully understand until the discovery of nuclear fission.
NARRATOR Sirsi, India.
Ten miles outside of this city, in the southwestern state of Karnataka, within the river Shalmala, is one of the country's most popular pilgrimage sites, Sahasralinga.
Hidden under these waters for most of the year lie stone sculptures known as Shiva Lingams.
These sacred idols are representations of the god Shiva, and are visible to thousands of pilgrims once a year at the festival of Maha Shivaratri.
Maha Shivaratri is a festival where Shiva is worshipped for his great nature.
Maha Shivaratri is usually held in the end of February or beginning of March.
During that month, the water level of the Shalmala River drops down so that all the Shiva Lingas are exposed.
LITTLE: Shiva's depicted as the Shiva Linga, as kind of a spherical column, the flaming pillar that is the cosmic axis of the universe.
Every Shiva Linga that's in worship is set into a yoni.
This is a-a special base, and it actually serves kind of a utility of function.
It's a spout so that when you pour offerings over the surface of the linga, they wash over the sacred body.
Images of the Shiva Linga are found throughout Southeast Asia, even in parts of East Asia.
Sometimes images of Shiva as the lingam also made its way into China and into Japan.
NARRATOR: The Shiva Lingam first appeared over 2,000 years ago, and there is still debate over what this shape was originally meant to symbolize.
But ancient astronaut theorists suggest that the icon may represent an incredibly powerful technological device.
Paris, France.
At the Paris Congress of History of Religions, Swami Vivekananda, a scientist and monk credited with popularizing Hinduism in the West, gives a lecture addressing the meaning of the Shiva Lingam.
HENRY: For centuries, Western scholars have assumed that the Shiva Linga has purely a sexual connotation.
The cylinder is the male phallic symbol and the yoni is the complimentary female symbol.
Then in 1900, the Hindu scholar Swami Vivekananda came to Paris to deliver a major lecture about Hinduism and symbolism.
During this lecture, he said that the Shiva Linga actually symbolizes the coming in or going out of the divine manifesting energy of Shiva.
SHIMKHADA: It stands for energy.
And it has often been misrepresented in the West that it is simply a phallic symbol of Shiva, which is not the case.
It is obviously a pillar.
"Linga" means a pillar.
Modern Hindu scholars have theorized that the Shiva Linga stone actually represents atomic energy.
When we think about this idea of what atomic energy can do, how it can be used for good but it can be extraordinarily destructive, this certainly pertains to the mythology of Shiva, who is chaotic energy, who is a force for incredible good, but also a force for incredible destruction.
NARRATOR: Is it possible that this symbol of Shiva's power actually represents atomic energy? Ancient astronaut theorists say yes, and suggest the proof can be found by examining this mysterious shape.
MOHAN: The cylindrical structure of the Shiva Linga is similar or almost identical to a modern-day nuclear reactor.
And the groove that surrounds the base represents the structures built to dispose of the polluted water.
In ancient times and even today, Hindus pour water or milk on top of Shiva Linga as a ritual.
Today we pour water over the top of nuclear reactor to cool it.
And interestingly, most Shiva temples are always found near water bodies, like rivers or lakes, just like nuclear power plants.
So is it possible that Shiva Linga actually represents an ancient nuclear power plant? HENRY: In the story of Shiva and the Shiva Linga, we're obviously dealing with some kind of a universal or cosmic power that we didn't fully understand until the 20th century, with the discovery of nuclear power and nuclear fission.
These discoveries that predate modern man are completely changing our conception of the ancient past and connecting us to the true history of humanity, all before the time of the flood.
NARRATOR: Does the Shiva Lingam symbolize an extraterrestrial technology that existed on Earth before the Great Flood? Could it be a message left for us by our ancestors that an advanced society of humans existed long ago and suffered a terrible fate? Perhaps further clues can be found by examining a 4,000-year-old text that describes how to harness electricity.
LITTLE: Sage Agastya is said to have brought secret science to India.
WILCOCK: Sage Agastya was directly trained by extraterrestrials himself.
NARRATOR: Ujjain, India.
Lost pages from an ancient Sanskrit text called the Agastya Samhita are discovered in the city's royal library.
While the exact age of this text is not known, some Hindu scholars believe it could date back more than 4,000 years.
In it are the collected works of Sage Agastya, a disciple of Shiva and the first in a line of Hindu saints known as siddhas.
LITTLE: "Siddha" means a perfected one, or an accomplished one.
These are people who have powers like shrinking to a small size, growing very large, flying through the air.
Shiva is generally regarded as being the ultimate siddha, the first and primordial siddha.
NARRATOR: According to Hindu texts, the ancient siddhas wielded highly advanced technology.
The siddhas are masters of creation.
The Siddha Bhogar has been credited with many wondrous technologies that he is thought to have created long before the advent of modern industry.
He is credited with building a steamship, a telescope, a parachute, a locomotive, and also various devices to fly through the sky.
Sage Agastya is very important for siddha tradition as well.
He is said to have brought the secret culture and secret science to India.
WILCOCK: When you read the legends about how Sage Agastya got his knowledge, we hear that he was directly trained by extraterrestrials himself.
NARRATOR: Dr.
Varam R.
Kokatnur, a chemist and avid researcher of hieroglyphics, studied the lost pages of the Agastya Samhita that were discovered in 1924.
What he found fascinated him to such an extent that, in 1927, he read the translated pages before the American Chemical Society in Detroit, Michigan.
The chemists were astonished, and reached the same conclusion as Dr.
Kokatnur had: that this ancient manuscript provides accurate instructions for how to make a dry electric battery.
WILCOCK: The battery doesn't show up in our conventional technology until the 19th century.
What the heck is it doing in the Agastya Samhita-- the sacred text that was Agastya's personal writings? If Agastya knew how to build a battery, then how can we rule out all of the other marvelous technology that is described in the same document? NARRATOR: On March 31, 2016, author and researcher David Childress met with physics professor Dr.
Michael Dennin at the University of California, Irvine, to put Sage Agastya's centuries-old instructions for building a battery to the test.
So we need a well-cleaned copper plate.
DENNIN: Okay, so that's the copper plate here.
That's gonna make one end of our battery.
All right.
And we need an earthenware vessel.
We've actually chosen to substitute that with a plastic petri dish.
All that vessel is is an insulator to hold our battery.
These are transparent, so we can look inside while we do our test.
And then we need copper sulfate.
So I've got some copper sulfate solution here.
It's a liquid and it's blue.
That tells you about the copper inside.
Okay, and we need moist sawdust.
We're gonna actually start with dry sawdust, and when we add the copper sulfate in our battery, it'll become our moist sawdust.
Okay, and then we need a zinc plate.
So finally the silver-looking plates, those are our zinc plates.
That makes the other end of the battery.
All right, let's see how this works, then.
Okay, so we start with the copper plate.
As I said, you put that at the bottom.
And then we add the sawdust.
Okay, and what does the sawdust do? Well, one of the important things in the battery is to make sure the two metals don't touch each other.
They have to stay separated or the battery is shorted out.
Now we're gonna add zinc on top.
Now we're gonna add the copper sulfate.
CHILDRESS: What does that do? DENNIN: So this is our electrolyte solution.
It's a key element to the battery.
It's gonna cause the chemical reaction that'll take electrons from one of the metals and allow them to flow to the other metal, and that'll give us our current and our battery.
Now we're gonna take our volt meter and we're gonna check and see what sort of voltage we're getting out of this battery.
And as you can see, we've got one volt on the volt meter.
So our battery is actually working and running.
Wow, and this really validates this ancient text.
So what can you do with one volt? DENNIN: Well, with one volt and a typical single battery like this, the cool thing is you have enough energy content that you could lift a person, say a 200-pound person, about ten meters into the air, if you had the right machinery to hook this battery up to.
CHILDRESS: Wow.
NARRATOR: A battery with enough power to lift a person off the ground? Could the technology described by Sage Agastya be connected to the floating thrones that were allegedly witnessed in the chamber beneath Kailasa Temple? Is this further evidence of an advanced society that arose thousands of years ago, during a time when extraterrestrials coexisted with mankind? But if so, what happened to Shiva and the devices he brought to Earth? Ancient astronaut theorists suggest the answers may lie hidden high on a Himalayan mountain peak that is forbidden to climbers.
DUNCAN ROADS: Almost every pilgrim who goes to Mount Kailash reports unusual experiences.
CHILDRESS: Is it possible that Mount Kailash is some kind of extraterrestrial base inside of a mountain? NARRATOR The Tibetan Himalayas.
In this harsh desolate region of the world stands a mountain sacred to billions of people, the distinctive peak of Mount Kailash.
YOUNG: Mount Kailash in Western Tibet is a remarkable peak.
It rises some 22,000 feet pretty much straight up.
It's seen somewhat conical from one side, more like a pyramid from another.
It is the origins of four of the world's great religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Daoism.
SHIMKHADA: Mount Kailash is believed to be home of Shiva.
He's supposed to reside on top of Mount Kailash.
Because of that, it is sacred.
NARRATOR: Dr.
Ernst Muldashev, a prominent Russian eye surgeon, has led 21 expeditions examining some of the most remote regions on the planet.
In 1999, he spent a month at Mount Kailash studying its structure.
What he found led him to put forth a controversial theory, one that suggests Mount Kailash may be much more than just the mythological home of Shiva.
Dr.
Ernst Muldashev led an expedition of Russian scientists to Mount Kailash.
And he observed that its apex, its peak, highly resembles a man-made pyramid and began to develop the theory that, in fact, the apex of Kailash is man-made or perhaps made by extraterrestrials as the home of Shiva.
(speaking Russian) TRANSLATOR: This is a huge pyramid, the largest pyramid in the world.
It is, in fact, very similar to a step pyramid.
NARRATOR: Could Mount Kailash really contain an artificial structure that is home to Shiva? According to all religions that revere the mountain, setting foot on its slopes is a dire sin, and it is claimed that many who ventured to defy the taboo died in the process.
This, along with the fact that China prohibits climbing Mount Kailash, has made examination of the peak impossible.
But curiously, many who visit the mountain have reported strange happenings.
Almost every pilgrim who goes to Mount Kailash reports unusual experiences along the way.
A lot of people report rapid aging if they stay in the area.
Fingernails grow faster, hair grows faster.
(Muldashev speaking Russian) TRANSLATOR: Pilgrims go to Kailash to absorb the energy of the mountain.
What I personally felt near Mount Kailash? I felt some energy.
I usually do not feel energy.
I do not have psychic powers, but I felt it.
NARRATOR: Is it possible that there really is some sort of energy emanating from Mount Kailash? Ancient astronaut theorists say yes and suggest that, considering the strange anomalies and the legends that warn against ascending the peak, Mount Kailash may be radioactive.
As further evidence, they point to a drawing that was discovered in the Mogao Caves of Western China, approximately 600 miles north of Mount Kailash.
Between 500 BC and 1500 AD, Buddhists stashed away over 50,000 manuscripts in the Mogao Cave system.
These went undiscovered until Aurel Stein, a Hungarian-born British researcher, came there in 1907 and rediscovered the cave.
Hidden among these manuscripts was an incredible diagram.
It's from a second-century manuscript, and it's of Mount Meru, the cosmic access, or stairway to heaven, of the Buddhist and Hindu tradition.
Mount Meru is readily identified as a representation of Mount Kailash.
The thing about this diagram is that it appears to be highly technological.
NARRATOR: Ancient astronaut theorists suggest that this diagram appears incredibly similar to a modern-day particle accelerator, the type used to power a nuclear reactor.
And some propose that just before the time of the Great Flood, the remote mountain peak provided the perfect location for extraterrestrials to dispose of their nuclear technology, much like Yucca Mountain in Nevada is used to store nuclear waste today.
Is it possible that Mount Kailash in Tibet is some kind of hollowed-out mountain, hollowed out thousands of years ago, perhaps by extraterrestrials, and could be completely poisoned by radiation? NARRATOR: Could Mount Kailash contain the ultimate physical evidence of an earlier advanced civilization here on Earth? One that had nuclear capabilities, which were given to them by extraterrestrials represented in the form of the Hindu gods? Ancient astronaut theorists suggest that the truth about our past may be uncovered by taking a closer examination of Shiva and what he truly represents.
NARRATOR: August 5, 1927.
Russian philosopher and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Nicholas Roerich is exploring the Himalayan Mountains when he sees a giant oval moving at a high speed and glowing like the sun.
Changing directions from south to southwest, it disappears into the sky.
Many of these UFO sightings are reported by Hindu pilgrims who move towards Mount Kailash.
They've also reported UFOs around Mount Kailash sometimes appearing to go directly into the mountain.
And some people even claim there is an underground UFO base, as there have been reports of UFOs coming from the sky and disappearing at ground level.
NARRATOR: If Mount Kailash was once radioactive, as some ancient astronaut theorists suggest, could the presence of UFOs in the area be a sign that it is once again safe to access? Or could it still contain working technology that extraterrestrials continue to utilize to this day? Some ancient astronaut theorists propose the answer may be found by taking another look at Shiva, and the possibility that he is not just the bringer of energy, but is energy itself.
When J.
Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb, observed the first atomic explosion at the Trinity test site, he cited a line from the Bhagavad Gita.
"I have become death, destroyer of worlds.
" That's the title of Shiva.
Perhaps we should listen and look at these stories from a new perspective.
What is the description about? Could it be that Shiva was some type of energy? NARRATOR: Is it possible that Shiva is a representation of some incredible cataclysmic event that happened thousands of years ago? Ancient astronaut theorists say yes, but also insist that another demonstration of Shiva's destructive powers is not only possible but inevitable.
We are approaching the beginning of a new future for mankind.
So, in a sense, it's the end of an era and the turning of a new page.
Even though Shiva's function is to destroy, and he's given that title, god of destruction, at the same time he makes it possible to create.
So, destruction is part of creation.
TSOUKALOS: The extraterrestrials will come back, and it will be the most amazing chapter in human history.
NARRATOR: Is Shiva really nothing more than a mythical Hindu god? One that offered early humans a way of describing some incredible catastrophic event? Or is he something more? Something of extraterrestrial origin? Perhaps the answer lies not in the images carved upon the walls of a temple or in the words found written in sacred texts, but in the awesome power of energy and mankind's increasing ability to harness it, as we make our journey back to the stars.
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ERICH VON DANIKEN: Shiva came down from these cities on the firmament.
He's the leader of a group of extraterrestrials.
Shiva was a force for incredible good, but also a force for incredible destruction.
And he is said to have this trident which could annihilate anything in its path.
DAVID WILCOCK: In the Hindu tradition, you have to have destruction in order to have creation.
And it may be that Shiva will determine the future of the human race.
NARRATOR: Since the dawn of civilization, mankind has credited its origins to gods and other visitors from the stars.
What if it were true? Did extraterrestrial beings really help to shape our history? And if so, might humanity's fate be determined by Shiva the Destroyer? NARRATOR: India.
Covering over 1.
2 million square miles, it is the world's seventh-largest country.
And with 1.
3 billion people, it is the second most populated.
Roughly 80% of the Indian population practices Hinduism, the world's oldest surviving religion that dates back to at least 2000 BC.
And for the Hindu faithful, their gods are not mythological, but are real beings that have, at times, been present here on Earth.
YOUNG: These many gods and goddesses have different stories and different energies and different principles that they represent.
For many of the Hindu faithful, the gods are absolutely real.
They exist physically, although they may not always be visible.
In general, compared to Western belief systems, the tangible reality of the gods is much stronger in India.
I've grown up as a Hindu in a strict Hindu family, so I know all the Vedas and epics.
You know, I've read them hundreds of times.
Hindus believe that the gods came down from the sky.
DEEPAK SHIMKHADA: Hindus believe that these stories are not simply myth.
They are historical records, because they are actually called itihasa-- itihasa meaning "history.
" NARRATOR: While in the Judeo-Christian tradition, God is depicted as an all-powerful being, in the Vedic texts, Hindu gods often rely on the use of technology.
This has led ancient astronaut theorists to pose the question: is it possible that these religious texts describe not only encounters with the divine, but also with extraterrestrial beings? The Western mindset is different from that of India, where they accept the idea of extraterrestrial beings.
The Hindu story of the Mahabharata is loaded with references to what seems to be extraterrestrial technology.
You've got flying vehicles.
You've got weapons that are voice-activated.
And you have destructions of civilizations by what seems like nuclear detonation.
VON DANIKEN: In the Mahabharata, there they write that one day gigantic cities surrounded the Earth.
They did not have a word for "spaceship" at that time.
They say "cities.
" And they make clear difference that these cities were in the firmament, not in heaven.
And small vehicles came down from these cities of the firmament.
The old Indians called these vehicles vimanas.
And out of the vimanas, the teachers came out.
No doubt we were visited by extraterrestrials.
NARRATOR: Is the Hindu tradition a story of extraterrestrial visitation? Ancient astronaut theorists say yes, and suggest that this was orchestrated by an otherworldly being known in Hinduism as Lord Shiva.
Shiva is Shiva is also called Mahadeva.
Mahadeva means "great god.
" So he is god of gods.
He's the head of all gods, and he's also the most powerful god.
Shiva has a dual function.
One of his functions is destruction.
The other one is creation.
Without destruction, there is no creation.
NARRATOR: Depictions of Shiva embody this idea of destruction and creation.
Shiva is most often shown holding a drum called a damaru, which he used to create the universe.
Around his neck is a cobra poised to strike.
In one hand, Shiva holds a powerful trident-like weapon of destruction called the trishula, and in the center of his forehead, he has a third eye.
Shiva is the only god that has a depicted with third eye.
If his third eye opens, a very powerful light, uh, fire emits from his third eye, and anything that it sees, it destroys totally.
Usually, when you talk about the third eye, it's about enlightenment.
And then there is this other third eye, this third eye that was able to annihilate things.
I don't think they're the same thing.
So the question is: What was it? And what was Shiva? Shiva appeared at a very crucial time when, uh, two gods-- Brahma is the creator, and Vishnu, the preserver-- were debating who is greater.
All of a sudden, this blinding light, shaft of light, appeared that has no end or beginning.
And then this voice came out of this light, said that, "I am the greatest.
I am the greatest god there is.
" TSOUKALOS: Shiva is almost always surrounded by some type of a circular structure with flames.
Now, what did our human ancestor artists try to depict here? Was he perhaps inside some type of a fiery craft? It is possible that Shiva is the same extraterrestrial that other cultures call by different names.
Enki, Odin, Zeus, Viracocha, Quetzalcoatl, Kukulkan.
NARRATOR: The earliest Vedic texts were first written roughly 4,000 years ago, but Hindus claim that the stories originated hundreds and perhaps even thousands of years earlier, existing as part of an oral tradition passed down from one generation to the next.
And ancient astronaut theorists suggest that Shiva first arrived here on Earth at a time before the existence of modern humans, and before the event known, in the Biblical tradition, as the Great Flood.
Every culture around the world that has any type of ancient writings or documents or even oral traditions, they always talk about some kind of great flood that had a massive catastrophic effect, and utterly wiped out much of life on Earth in a single day.
What I find interesting about this is that Shiva is the god of destruction.
In the Hindu tradition, you have to have destruction in order to have creation.
Is there a connection there? (speaking Russian) TRANSLATOR: Tibetan lamas claim that, after the Flood, when the whole Earth flooded, and the waters gradually receded, man was created anew by means of the seed that was guarded by Shiva.
NARRATOR: Is it possible that Shiva was an extraterrestrial visitor that was responsible for both the creation and destruction of an earlier race of Earthlings? And if so, did he do this to clear the way for modern humans? Ancient astronaut theorists suggest further clues can be found by examining a mysterious temple in northern India and what might lie beneath it.
LAYNE LITTLE: One of the more mysterious aspects of the site of Ellora are the tunnels.
Tunnels like these lead to a vast city under Kailasa Temple.
NARRATOR: Aurangabad, India.
200 miles northeast of Mumbai stands a monolithic temple complex known as the Ellora Caves.
These 34 sites of worship, extending over a mile, were carved out of a high cliff, and are believed to date back to between 600 and 1000 AD.
Cave 16, known as Kailasa Temple, is a massive shrine to Lord Shiva.
At three stories high, it stands twice as tall as the Parthenon in Athens, and archaeologists believe it was chiseled out of the hillside starting at the top and ending at the bottom.
Some historians estimate that construction of the temple required the removal of over 400,000 tons of rock, but even more incredible is that mainstream archaeologists propose that this feat was accomplished in just 18 years.
If people worked every day for that 18 years, for 12 hours straight with no breaks, then they would have to have removed five tons of rock every hour.
This is ten thousand pounds of rock every hour.
In reality, such a feat is not even possible today with modern technology.
If it happened in 18 years, it is very hard to account for Another baffling fact is that if they removed 400,000 tons of rocks, they have to be thrown away somewhere.
But we do not find any evidence of rocks being piled up nearby.
Uh, it hasn't been used to build any other temples or any other structure.
Where did all that rock go? NARRATOR: Could humans living over 1,000 years ago really have constructed Kailasa Temple in only 18 years? And if so, how is it that all the rock that was excavated has simply disappeared? Perhaps further clues can be found by examining a powerful device described in the ancient Vedic texts.
Interestingly, there is a device called Bhaumastra mentioned in the ancient Vedic texts.
This high-tech machine would be able to quickly drill into the rock and basically vaporize them.
This could basically change the rock into air.
This device was mentioned multiple times in ancient Vedic texts, which was used to mine for precious stones and metals.
Could this be how Kailasa Temple was built? NARRATOR: Is it possible that the Bhaumastra machine described in the Vedic texts was really a technological device that existed on Earth thousands of years ago? Ancient astronaut theorists say yes, but suggest it was used not to build Kailasa Temple from the top down, as mainstream scholars propose, but carved out the structure from the bottom up.
One of the more mysterious aspects of the site of Ellora are the tunnels that seem to go nowhere at the site.
Some of them turn at odd angles.
Some go as deep as 40 feet.
Now the reasons for this are, for the most part, unknown.
This is one of the tunnels leading underground at the Kailasa Temple.
You can see that the local authorities have fenced this off.
But if you look through this hole, you can see that this tunnel goes vertically down.
Local authorities believe that tunnels like these lead to a vast underground city under Kailasa Temple.
NARRATOR: What could be the purpose for these tunnels below Kailasa Temple? And why are they fenced off from the public? In 1876, renowned English spiritualist Emma Hardinge Britten published Ghost Land, in which she writes of hidden tunnels beneath the Ellora Caves and the meetings of a secret cabal of mystics in an underground city.
Britten tells of spiritually contacting a mysterious figure named Cavalier Louie, who witnessed the clandestine society.
LITTLE: Cavalier Louie states that he was taken into the site of Ellora, where he was led through a secret passageway into an underground chamber.
The underground chamber opened up into a huge amphitheater, and there were these wondrous metallic thrones that were being charged with powerful galvanic batteries that rose up into the air.
And seated on these thrones were seven mysterious hooded figures.
But the most interesting one was the one in the center who spoke, and yet was not always there.
His body shimmered in and out of physical space and time.
NARRATOR: But why would vast rooms and tunnels exist deep underground beneath Kailasa Temple? Ancient astronaut theorists suggest this could be further evidence that Lord Shiva has a connection with the Great Flood.
CHILDRESS: We have a great deluge that changed the face of the Earth and forced people underground.
So you have to wonder, is this some kind of ancient city, many thousands of years old, that was once some kind of extraterrestrial base? And as the water receded, they create this temple from underground.
Presently, archaeologists date the Kailasa Temple from the fifth to the tenth century AD.
But there is nothing in the temple that really gives it a date.
And, in fact, like many things in ancient India, and-and around the world, uh, these temples may be much, much older than the mainstream archeologists are saying.
NARRATOR: Could it be that hidden beneath Kailasa Temple is an underground alien city? And if so, would this prove that the being Hindus call Shiva was really an extraterrestrial visitor who gave technology to an earlier race of humans and ultimately destroyed them? Perhaps further clues can be found by examining a sacred icon believed to hold extraordinary power.
McGOWAN: The Shiva Linga stone actually can be a force for incredible destruction.
HENRY: We're dealing with some kind of cosmic power that we didn't fully understand until the discovery of nuclear fission.
NARRATOR Sirsi, India.
Ten miles outside of this city, in the southwestern state of Karnataka, within the river Shalmala, is one of the country's most popular pilgrimage sites, Sahasralinga.
Hidden under these waters for most of the year lie stone sculptures known as Shiva Lingams.
These sacred idols are representations of the god Shiva, and are visible to thousands of pilgrims once a year at the festival of Maha Shivaratri.
Maha Shivaratri is a festival where Shiva is worshipped for his great nature.
Maha Shivaratri is usually held in the end of February or beginning of March.
During that month, the water level of the Shalmala River drops down so that all the Shiva Lingas are exposed.
LITTLE: Shiva's depicted as the Shiva Linga, as kind of a spherical column, the flaming pillar that is the cosmic axis of the universe.
Every Shiva Linga that's in worship is set into a yoni.
This is a-a special base, and it actually serves kind of a utility of function.
It's a spout so that when you pour offerings over the surface of the linga, they wash over the sacred body.
Images of the Shiva Linga are found throughout Southeast Asia, even in parts of East Asia.
Sometimes images of Shiva as the lingam also made its way into China and into Japan.
NARRATOR: The Shiva Lingam first appeared over 2,000 years ago, and there is still debate over what this shape was originally meant to symbolize.
But ancient astronaut theorists suggest that the icon may represent an incredibly powerful technological device.
Paris, France.
At the Paris Congress of History of Religions, Swami Vivekananda, a scientist and monk credited with popularizing Hinduism in the West, gives a lecture addressing the meaning of the Shiva Lingam.
HENRY: For centuries, Western scholars have assumed that the Shiva Linga has purely a sexual connotation.
The cylinder is the male phallic symbol and the yoni is the complimentary female symbol.
Then in 1900, the Hindu scholar Swami Vivekananda came to Paris to deliver a major lecture about Hinduism and symbolism.
During this lecture, he said that the Shiva Linga actually symbolizes the coming in or going out of the divine manifesting energy of Shiva.
SHIMKHADA: It stands for energy.
And it has often been misrepresented in the West that it is simply a phallic symbol of Shiva, which is not the case.
It is obviously a pillar.
"Linga" means a pillar.
Modern Hindu scholars have theorized that the Shiva Linga stone actually represents atomic energy.
When we think about this idea of what atomic energy can do, how it can be used for good but it can be extraordinarily destructive, this certainly pertains to the mythology of Shiva, who is chaotic energy, who is a force for incredible good, but also a force for incredible destruction.
NARRATOR: Is it possible that this symbol of Shiva's power actually represents atomic energy? Ancient astronaut theorists say yes, and suggest the proof can be found by examining this mysterious shape.
MOHAN: The cylindrical structure of the Shiva Linga is similar or almost identical to a modern-day nuclear reactor.
And the groove that surrounds the base represents the structures built to dispose of the polluted water.
In ancient times and even today, Hindus pour water or milk on top of Shiva Linga as a ritual.
Today we pour water over the top of nuclear reactor to cool it.
And interestingly, most Shiva temples are always found near water bodies, like rivers or lakes, just like nuclear power plants.
So is it possible that Shiva Linga actually represents an ancient nuclear power plant? HENRY: In the story of Shiva and the Shiva Linga, we're obviously dealing with some kind of a universal or cosmic power that we didn't fully understand until the 20th century, with the discovery of nuclear power and nuclear fission.
These discoveries that predate modern man are completely changing our conception of the ancient past and connecting us to the true history of humanity, all before the time of the flood.
NARRATOR: Does the Shiva Lingam symbolize an extraterrestrial technology that existed on Earth before the Great Flood? Could it be a message left for us by our ancestors that an advanced society of humans existed long ago and suffered a terrible fate? Perhaps further clues can be found by examining a 4,000-year-old text that describes how to harness electricity.
LITTLE: Sage Agastya is said to have brought secret science to India.
WILCOCK: Sage Agastya was directly trained by extraterrestrials himself.
NARRATOR: Ujjain, India.
Lost pages from an ancient Sanskrit text called the Agastya Samhita are discovered in the city's royal library.
While the exact age of this text is not known, some Hindu scholars believe it could date back more than 4,000 years.
In it are the collected works of Sage Agastya, a disciple of Shiva and the first in a line of Hindu saints known as siddhas.
LITTLE: "Siddha" means a perfected one, or an accomplished one.
These are people who have powers like shrinking to a small size, growing very large, flying through the air.
Shiva is generally regarded as being the ultimate siddha, the first and primordial siddha.
NARRATOR: According to Hindu texts, the ancient siddhas wielded highly advanced technology.
The siddhas are masters of creation.
The Siddha Bhogar has been credited with many wondrous technologies that he is thought to have created long before the advent of modern industry.
He is credited with building a steamship, a telescope, a parachute, a locomotive, and also various devices to fly through the sky.
Sage Agastya is very important for siddha tradition as well.
He is said to have brought the secret culture and secret science to India.
WILCOCK: When you read the legends about how Sage Agastya got his knowledge, we hear that he was directly trained by extraterrestrials himself.
NARRATOR: Dr.
Varam R.
Kokatnur, a chemist and avid researcher of hieroglyphics, studied the lost pages of the Agastya Samhita that were discovered in 1924.
What he found fascinated him to such an extent that, in 1927, he read the translated pages before the American Chemical Society in Detroit, Michigan.
The chemists were astonished, and reached the same conclusion as Dr.
Kokatnur had: that this ancient manuscript provides accurate instructions for how to make a dry electric battery.
WILCOCK: The battery doesn't show up in our conventional technology until the 19th century.
What the heck is it doing in the Agastya Samhita-- the sacred text that was Agastya's personal writings? If Agastya knew how to build a battery, then how can we rule out all of the other marvelous technology that is described in the same document? NARRATOR: On March 31, 2016, author and researcher David Childress met with physics professor Dr.
Michael Dennin at the University of California, Irvine, to put Sage Agastya's centuries-old instructions for building a battery to the test.
So we need a well-cleaned copper plate.
DENNIN: Okay, so that's the copper plate here.
That's gonna make one end of our battery.
All right.
And we need an earthenware vessel.
We've actually chosen to substitute that with a plastic petri dish.
All that vessel is is an insulator to hold our battery.
These are transparent, so we can look inside while we do our test.
And then we need copper sulfate.
So I've got some copper sulfate solution here.
It's a liquid and it's blue.
That tells you about the copper inside.
Okay, and we need moist sawdust.
We're gonna actually start with dry sawdust, and when we add the copper sulfate in our battery, it'll become our moist sawdust.
Okay, and then we need a zinc plate.
So finally the silver-looking plates, those are our zinc plates.
That makes the other end of the battery.
All right, let's see how this works, then.
Okay, so we start with the copper plate.
As I said, you put that at the bottom.
And then we add the sawdust.
Okay, and what does the sawdust do? Well, one of the important things in the battery is to make sure the two metals don't touch each other.
They have to stay separated or the battery is shorted out.
Now we're gonna add zinc on top.
Now we're gonna add the copper sulfate.
CHILDRESS: What does that do? DENNIN: So this is our electrolyte solution.
It's a key element to the battery.
It's gonna cause the chemical reaction that'll take electrons from one of the metals and allow them to flow to the other metal, and that'll give us our current and our battery.
Now we're gonna take our volt meter and we're gonna check and see what sort of voltage we're getting out of this battery.
And as you can see, we've got one volt on the volt meter.
So our battery is actually working and running.
Wow, and this really validates this ancient text.
So what can you do with one volt? DENNIN: Well, with one volt and a typical single battery like this, the cool thing is you have enough energy content that you could lift a person, say a 200-pound person, about ten meters into the air, if you had the right machinery to hook this battery up to.
CHILDRESS: Wow.
NARRATOR: A battery with enough power to lift a person off the ground? Could the technology described by Sage Agastya be connected to the floating thrones that were allegedly witnessed in the chamber beneath Kailasa Temple? Is this further evidence of an advanced society that arose thousands of years ago, during a time when extraterrestrials coexisted with mankind? But if so, what happened to Shiva and the devices he brought to Earth? Ancient astronaut theorists suggest the answers may lie hidden high on a Himalayan mountain peak that is forbidden to climbers.
DUNCAN ROADS: Almost every pilgrim who goes to Mount Kailash reports unusual experiences.
CHILDRESS: Is it possible that Mount Kailash is some kind of extraterrestrial base inside of a mountain? NARRATOR The Tibetan Himalayas.
In this harsh desolate region of the world stands a mountain sacred to billions of people, the distinctive peak of Mount Kailash.
YOUNG: Mount Kailash in Western Tibet is a remarkable peak.
It rises some 22,000 feet pretty much straight up.
It's seen somewhat conical from one side, more like a pyramid from another.
It is the origins of four of the world's great religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Daoism.
SHIMKHADA: Mount Kailash is believed to be home of Shiva.
He's supposed to reside on top of Mount Kailash.
Because of that, it is sacred.
NARRATOR: Dr.
Ernst Muldashev, a prominent Russian eye surgeon, has led 21 expeditions examining some of the most remote regions on the planet.
In 1999, he spent a month at Mount Kailash studying its structure.
What he found led him to put forth a controversial theory, one that suggests Mount Kailash may be much more than just the mythological home of Shiva.
Dr.
Ernst Muldashev led an expedition of Russian scientists to Mount Kailash.
And he observed that its apex, its peak, highly resembles a man-made pyramid and began to develop the theory that, in fact, the apex of Kailash is man-made or perhaps made by extraterrestrials as the home of Shiva.
(speaking Russian) TRANSLATOR: This is a huge pyramid, the largest pyramid in the world.
It is, in fact, very similar to a step pyramid.
NARRATOR: Could Mount Kailash really contain an artificial structure that is home to Shiva? According to all religions that revere the mountain, setting foot on its slopes is a dire sin, and it is claimed that many who ventured to defy the taboo died in the process.
This, along with the fact that China prohibits climbing Mount Kailash, has made examination of the peak impossible.
But curiously, many who visit the mountain have reported strange happenings.
Almost every pilgrim who goes to Mount Kailash reports unusual experiences along the way.
A lot of people report rapid aging if they stay in the area.
Fingernails grow faster, hair grows faster.
(Muldashev speaking Russian) TRANSLATOR: Pilgrims go to Kailash to absorb the energy of the mountain.
What I personally felt near Mount Kailash? I felt some energy.
I usually do not feel energy.
I do not have psychic powers, but I felt it.
NARRATOR: Is it possible that there really is some sort of energy emanating from Mount Kailash? Ancient astronaut theorists say yes and suggest that, considering the strange anomalies and the legends that warn against ascending the peak, Mount Kailash may be radioactive.
As further evidence, they point to a drawing that was discovered in the Mogao Caves of Western China, approximately 600 miles north of Mount Kailash.
Between 500 BC and 1500 AD, Buddhists stashed away over 50,000 manuscripts in the Mogao Cave system.
These went undiscovered until Aurel Stein, a Hungarian-born British researcher, came there in 1907 and rediscovered the cave.
Hidden among these manuscripts was an incredible diagram.
It's from a second-century manuscript, and it's of Mount Meru, the cosmic access, or stairway to heaven, of the Buddhist and Hindu tradition.
Mount Meru is readily identified as a representation of Mount Kailash.
The thing about this diagram is that it appears to be highly technological.
NARRATOR: Ancient astronaut theorists suggest that this diagram appears incredibly similar to a modern-day particle accelerator, the type used to power a nuclear reactor.
And some propose that just before the time of the Great Flood, the remote mountain peak provided the perfect location for extraterrestrials to dispose of their nuclear technology, much like Yucca Mountain in Nevada is used to store nuclear waste today.
Is it possible that Mount Kailash in Tibet is some kind of hollowed-out mountain, hollowed out thousands of years ago, perhaps by extraterrestrials, and could be completely poisoned by radiation? NARRATOR: Could Mount Kailash contain the ultimate physical evidence of an earlier advanced civilization here on Earth? One that had nuclear capabilities, which were given to them by extraterrestrials represented in the form of the Hindu gods? Ancient astronaut theorists suggest that the truth about our past may be uncovered by taking a closer examination of Shiva and what he truly represents.
NARRATOR: August 5, 1927.
Russian philosopher and Nobel Peace Prize nominee Nicholas Roerich is exploring the Himalayan Mountains when he sees a giant oval moving at a high speed and glowing like the sun.
Changing directions from south to southwest, it disappears into the sky.
Many of these UFO sightings are reported by Hindu pilgrims who move towards Mount Kailash.
They've also reported UFOs around Mount Kailash sometimes appearing to go directly into the mountain.
And some people even claim there is an underground UFO base, as there have been reports of UFOs coming from the sky and disappearing at ground level.
NARRATOR: If Mount Kailash was once radioactive, as some ancient astronaut theorists suggest, could the presence of UFOs in the area be a sign that it is once again safe to access? Or could it still contain working technology that extraterrestrials continue to utilize to this day? Some ancient astronaut theorists propose the answer may be found by taking another look at Shiva, and the possibility that he is not just the bringer of energy, but is energy itself.
When J.
Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb, observed the first atomic explosion at the Trinity test site, he cited a line from the Bhagavad Gita.
"I have become death, destroyer of worlds.
" That's the title of Shiva.
Perhaps we should listen and look at these stories from a new perspective.
What is the description about? Could it be that Shiva was some type of energy? NARRATOR: Is it possible that Shiva is a representation of some incredible cataclysmic event that happened thousands of years ago? Ancient astronaut theorists say yes, but also insist that another demonstration of Shiva's destructive powers is not only possible but inevitable.
We are approaching the beginning of a new future for mankind.
So, in a sense, it's the end of an era and the turning of a new page.
Even though Shiva's function is to destroy, and he's given that title, god of destruction, at the same time he makes it possible to create.
So, destruction is part of creation.
TSOUKALOS: The extraterrestrials will come back, and it will be the most amazing chapter in human history.
NARRATOR: Is Shiva really nothing more than a mythical Hindu god? One that offered early humans a way of describing some incredible catastrophic event? Or is he something more? Something of extraterrestrial origin? Perhaps the answer lies not in the images carved upon the walls of a temple or in the words found written in sacred texts, but in the awesome power of energy and mankind's increasing ability to harness it, as we make our journey back to the stars.
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