India’s Largest Circular Stone Labyrinth

India’s Largest Circular Stone Labyrinth Latest News

Archaeologists recently discovered a remarkable circular stone labyrinth in the Boramani grasslands of Solapur, Maharashtra, identified as the largest of its kind ever recorded in India.

About India’s Largest Circular Stone Labyrinth

• It was discovered in the Boramani grasslands of Solapur, Maharashtra.
• It is approximately 50 feet by 50 feet in size and has 15 concentric circles formed from small stone blocks. 
• The rings guide movement inward toward a tightly coiled spiral at the center, creating a design that reflects both precision and symbolic intent.
• This structure dates back to nearly 2,000 years ago and is linked to Indo-Roman trade during the Satavahana dynasty period.
• The presence of soil accumulation between the stone rings shows that this structure has remained untouched for several centuries.
• Its design resembles classical labyrinth forms found in Mediterranean cultures, including motifs seen on Roman-era coins, while also incorporating a central spiral associated in India with the concept of the Chakravyuh.
  • The Chakravyūha is a complex military formation described in the Hindu epic Mahabharata, designed to encircle and overwhelm enemies through multiple defensive layers.
• Before this discovery, the largest known circular labyrinth in India had 11 circuits, making the Solapur example unprecedented in terms of circular complexity. 
• Although there is a larger square labyrinth in Gedimedu in Tamil Nadu, this newly documented site is the largest circular stone labyrinth identified in the country to date.

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Mazes vs. Labyrinths

• Labyrinths and mazes are not the same; however both are patterns for a path from the entrance to the centre. 
• Though the terms are often used interchangeably, they mean different things.
• Mazes are a kind of puzzle with multiple paths and decision points, and sometimes high walls. 
• Labyrinths, by contrast, are unicursal: a single path twisting and turning through several concentric circles or circuits to arrive at a central goal, without walls or other obstructions to visibility. 
  • There are no “wrong turns” in a labyrinth.
  • Labyrinths and/or labyrinth carvings in rock and stone date back more than 4,000 years.  
  • There are labyrinths etched in Roman mosaics, in caves, cliffs, and tombs, on stone floors of medieval churches, and cut into turf.

Source: IT