[HCG30-P11] Interpreting the Ancient Legend “Descent of Ganga” of India as a Historical Record of a Comet Impact 6000 years ago.
キーワード：Impact, crater, legends
Placer deposits of the YarlungZangbo Suture Zone of Tibet are rich with finds like coesite, stishovite, microdiamonds, osbornite, high pressure nitrides, TiO2 II and other minerals. These finds are usually only associated with hypervelocity impact sites (1). However in the absence of impact evidence some have suggested that they originate from a mantle origin, even though such a mantle origin has many challenges making it difficult to accept. Tibetan lakes behind Mount Kailash between the latitudes of 82o, 30’ E and 90o, 30’ E and 29o N and 33o N are the main source of Yarlung Zangbo River. It is desirable to study this area for possible impact craters.
The ancient legend “Descent of Ganga” which describes a story of a celestial icy body traveling with great velocity and descending on earth, along with other ancient records suggests a possible comet impact near Mount Kailash. Many aspects of this legend such as the description of the events, appearance, descent path, and effects at the time of descent are similar to what one would expect with an impact event by a comet. Ancient Stone carvings and paintings of the time can be viewed as depictions of records of the celestial movement and impact event. Vedas like Rigveda, Atharvaveda refer to comets as “Dhumketu”. Certain hymns and verses of the Vedas are in the form of eye witness accounts of an impact event that is being observed and recorded. In this poster, we will present ancient symbolism, descriptions, and artwork comparing them with expected comet impact appearances being described in the legends, and will review some geological features of the region and attempt to show that a comet broke apart into small pieces and impacted in the Southern Tibet about 6000 years ago.
The image shows an ancient carving depicting "ketu". In Sanskrit, comet is known as "Dhumketu" or "ketu". Its translated as Dhum means "smoke" and Ketu is depicted as" Tail of demon serpent".
(1) E. M. Shoemaker et al., First Natural Occurrence of Coesite, Science 22 Jul 1960,Vol. 132, Issue3421, pp.220-222, DOI: 10.1126/science.132.3421.220
The ancient legend “Descent of Ganga” which describes a story of a celestial icy body traveling with great velocity and descending on earth, along with other ancient records suggests a possible comet impact near Mount Kailash. Many aspects of this legend such as the description of the events, appearance, descent path, and effects at the time of descent are similar to what one would expect with an impact event by a comet. Ancient Stone carvings and paintings of the time can be viewed as depictions of records of the celestial movement and impact event. Vedas like Rigveda, Atharvaveda refer to comets as “Dhumketu”. Certain hymns and verses of the Vedas are in the form of eye witness accounts of an impact event that is being observed and recorded. In this poster, we will present ancient symbolism, descriptions, and artwork comparing them with expected comet impact appearances being described in the legends, and will review some geological features of the region and attempt to show that a comet broke apart into small pieces and impacted in the Southern Tibet about 6000 years ago.
The image shows an ancient carving depicting "ketu". In Sanskrit, comet is known as "Dhumketu" or "ketu". Its translated as Dhum means "smoke" and Ketu is depicted as" Tail of demon serpent".
(1) E. M. Shoemaker et al., First Natural Occurrence of Coesite, Science 22 Jul 1960,Vol. 132, Issue3421, pp.220-222, DOI: 10.1126/science.132.3421.220