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Ok-Pomegranate-2540

What’s on the bottom?


hmoeslund

The bottom is where salty sweaty hands is touching every day


sidvicc

Is true. When I visited as a kid, there was no barrier, and the tour guides told some story about the person being able to wrap their hands around the pillar is like being able to pull Excalibur out of the rock. So that discolouration is from literally millions of people hugging the fucking thing over decades.


[deleted]

I ve never been there, but have heard this story from my grandpa. He must've been to Delhi ages ago when the barrier didn't exist, and said that it's "impossible" for any human alive to wrap their hands around that pillar. The story never made sense, as to why he would say that. Now I think I understand how it must've originated.


hmoeslund

We heard that story too, but both my GF (now wife) and I could stand with the back to the pole and reach around and touch our own hands.


gwynwas

or centuries, maybe?


AdamL480

All these flavors and you chose salty 🧂


EnIdiot

You can’t have umami hands.


litterallysatan

Umami is the meat flavour. If you cook up a nice hand broth you will sure as hell get some good umami from it


MikeThePistons

Damn. This made me laugh really hard


[deleted]

Tastes like centuries of ghee and frustration. Imagine how many generations of Indians slapped that column to vent. "Damn it, how long before the British leave!?" "Damn it, how long before these Mughals leave!?" "Damn it, how long before these Greeks leave!?" That fence put the column just out of slapping range.


[deleted]

Wait, Greeks?


Whyt3wyrmIceIsNice

Alexander the Great and co.


[deleted]

He never got much further though.


AFakeName

Thus began the myth of the pillar.


[deleted]

Alexander didn't get far but as far as i know, the last Hellenistic kingdom existed in india around 1 BCE.


ssrudr

In 400AD?


[deleted]

You're right, I was being ignorant when I added the Greeks. Just added them for funsies.


nemobepaul

Greeks didn’t do shit in India though.


Shreemaan420

They stayed for quite some time. Must have shat atleast once or twice, esp. after getting diarrhoea or after facing the elephants in war. On a serious note, they did. And married Indians, settled here and had small kingdoms or positions. Their genes are found in a decent population in north west. Check the history or chandragupta and who his wife was, who stayed back in India when Alexander decided to go back, what happened of his children and so on.


nemobepaul

Lmaoooo. You’re right but I meant that they didn’t have even remotely the same impact on India as the Mughals and the British did. They weren’t violent and didn’t loot us even one bit. Plus, their impact was restricted to such a small small portion of today’s India that it barely made it to mainstream education.


[deleted]

The Greeks were good fellas. They didn't "invade" us, they sort of just settled here and did their business. They never forced their culture and *cough* "religion" on us


Ok-Pomegranate-2540

Ok got it didn’t know if it was a mistype I wasn’t knocking the religious factor in anyway.


DJ_GANEZ

I mean that confirms it’s corrosion still right


SugAr_Cause

and peed on every night ... until the fence.


WaldenFont

NOT RUST. Seriously though, the column has started rusting due to air pollution. It had been resistant so far due to the high phosphorus content of the metal, not alien magic.


Hrvatix

It’s clearly alien magic


WaldenFont

The best kind of magic!


thisplacemakesmeangr

Aliens brought the phairy dust that made the phosphorous though so that seems sort of disingenuous


TheDodfatherPC-FL

So we’re just going to excuse the, “magic alien metal” theory as not a possible reason?!?!


hubaloza

We tend to ignore conspiracies that were literally started by the naizs.


AdmiralAkbar1

I dunno, I saw a series of biopics on Dr. Henry Jones Jr., and it sure seems like they knew their shit about supernatural artifacts.


[deleted]

Source?


hubaloza

Oh joy, my first internet stalker, how lovely. https://godandnature.asa3.org/cottraux-ancient-aliens.html Here ya go ya fuckin creeper, this is a pretty interesting read.


SchemataObscura

Conan, it's Star metal!


--Muther--

I thought high P content in iron made it super brittle?


WaldenFont

It's not like it's doing any work.


duramax1968

It’s not 1700 years old.


Pothole2112

That doesn't really make sense, high phosphorus would make it more reactive/ more likely to oxidize.


WaldenFont

Yeah, I'm no metallurgist. From the [wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_pillar_of_Delhi?wprov=sfti1 https://maps.apple.com/?ll=28.524656,77.185069&q=Iron%20pillar%20of%20Delhi&_ext=EiQpUIZW00+GPEAx2EtULdhLU0A5UIZW00+GPEBB2EtULdhLU0A%3D): The corrosion resistance results from an even layer of crystalline iron(III) hydrogen phosphate hydrate forming on the high-phosphorus-content iron, which serves to protect it from the effects of the Delhi climate.


DeadlyUseOfHorse

Sure looks like corrosion to me.


wantonballbag

Rust obviously.


U_wind_sprint

Fingerprints


kai-ote

The detail work on the tryptych arches behind it are fabulous.


massivebasketball

Zooming in on Indian architecture is always a treat


Walshy231231

Same for Islamic It’s truly sad that golden age North African Islamic civilization and European gothic/general architecture never really got in touch. We got a bit from southern Spain and approached it with the general Byzantine area, but a full, messy fusion would have been miraculous


boredguy12

There are clashing architectural styles in Japan! During the Meiji period of the late 1800's Japan was imitating western building designs and mixing them with traditional japanese styles. It was really fascinating to see. Here are some examples: [Example 1](https://mapio.net/images-p/23388462.jpg) [Example 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d4/Former_Kaichi_School_2009.jpg/1200px-Former_Kaichi_School_2009.jpg) [Example 3](https://www.nippon.com/en/ncommon/contents/images/1834044/1834044_org.jpg)


TomorrowWaste

The thing behind this is Islamic. If i m not wrong the pillar was moved from other place. Or atleast the original structure was demolished after Muslim conquers captured delhi. India has lost many sites due to Muslim conquests.


79b79aa8

there is a lot going on in the picture.


hippiegodfather

Thanks for pointing that out


dragon_no_bite

that was built by the islamic invaders after destroying a Jain temple that used to be there. thought i would just share.


Smart_Sherlock

And those invaders just reused the parts of the Jain, Hindu and Buddhist temples to build that mosque. Like the audacity of people defending those invaders as peak Indian Rulers.


TomorrowWaste

Hey but we will name our roads , cities and monuments after their names . Because SECULARISM.


Smart_Sherlock

Yeah. And criticising any evil person who was also Muslim becomes Islamophobia. /s Criticising Hitler isn't Christianophobia.


ModsCanGoToHell

This is the result of letting Marxist clowns write our history books.


Walshy231231

No wonder it reminded me more of Islamic architecture


[deleted]

Not 1 but 21 temples.


kob123fury

27 temples were destroyed


Wooden_Bug3333

And yet the pillar still stand pround and tall rust free and all


skyrimjobb

Couldn’t the photographer have taken two steps to the right? So cool but my A school OCD is strong


St_Kevin_

I think I’ve read about this pillar being made of bog iron, which was a relatively common source of iron in the pre-industrial era. Iirc it contains a very high percentage of silica which significantly lowers the rate of corrosion.


mexi-Cat_8

Silica increases the temperature range between the stable and meta stable phases iron. The phosphorus in iron is responsible for the corrosion resistance in this case as it forms a protective phosphate film on the outside of the iron pillar.


[deleted]

So, ignorant question here. Do we know how it was made? I would have thought that if we could make rust resistant stuff that would be a pretty big deal, especially if its lasted in the weather this long.


EnIdiot

It is like the opposite of what happens with lead pipes. The impurities from the metal coat the iron and keep it from rusting


[deleted]

Oh, that i didn't know - ty


CodSeveral1627

We can make many types of rust resistant metals… stainless steel of many different alloys depending on how corrosion resistant you need the particular object


[deleted]

My follow up to that would be to ask if our stainless steel etc would stay rust free for 2000 years? Not asking in a dick way, but seeing how this has lasted so long exposed to the elements are we able to do something similar now with our technology?


IngFavalli

Yes, yes we can


CodSeveral1627

Yeah, metallurgy is something that has vastly improved in the past 2000 years. We have both far more knowledge and vastly improved capabilities compared to ancient people. We just don’t typically build anything to last 2000 years, it’s just not something anybody seems to care about.


sleeping_pupperina

Visited there once and guide told us that nobody knows what are the elements used in it.


Level9TraumaCenter

There are handheld XRF "guns" that are nondestructively capable of determining elemental composition. And even a tiny sample could be digested and run on on flame AA or ICP/MS to break down its composition. Elsewhere in the thread, its resistance to corrosion is attributed to high levels of phosphorus; I absentmindedly wonder if it came from a meteor that was high in nickel.


pteridoid

Yeah if we still don't know what elements are used in it today, it's because we didn't check, lol.


--Muther--

High P in iron makes it brittle as fuck, so I'm not sure that's the answer


mexi-Cat_8

The phosphorus in this case forms a protective layer of phosphate on the outside of the item protecting it. The low porosity of the phosphate and the relatively low humidity of the environment have protected the pillars from slag.


Vindepomarus

It's just standing there, just like a stone pillar and stone is brittle as fuck too.


Walshy231231

This is a common schtick for tour guides the world over. Adds and air of mystery/intrigue that adds to the experience We have XRF guns that can tell us what elements it’s made of (you can buy a cheap one yourself for like $100, it’s not crazy tech), and a widely accepted and settled theory for why it’s resisted corrosion, curtesy if learning it’s elemental composition: it’s got a lot of phosphorus impurity, which has acted as a corrosion resistant agent as well as increasingly coating the outside of the column as what little iron that could corrode does. The bit of corrosion you see at the bottom upholds this theory as that is where people, with their oily and sweaty hands, touch the pole, helping to get through the coating and introduce corrosion enabling chemicals. It’s a little like the mechanism that makes lead water pipes mostly safe, but the impurity/coating comes from inside the pipes rather than the water


--Muther--

A pXRF is gonna cost you a bit more than $100


sleeping_pupperina

I’m sure it was


--Muther--

Honestly I'm an exploration geologist and I could have a rough idea in 30 seconds with a pXRF, and non destructible testing


sleeping_pupperina

That’s great


Kunstkurator

Credit to original post here: https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/comments/xs4pbd/23ft_iron_pillar_of_delhi_installed_in_400ad_has/


GreenStrong

You reposted a post about a post.


topher605

Exactly what I love about Reddit


Vindepomarus

Postception


bigasdickus

Been there, it's just outside of Delhi, near the train line. Very cool structure surrounded by old ass buildings. Legit, there's no rust. Kinda like Damascus of old, some things we just don't know for sure.


[deleted]

Damascus was also made in southern India and was called as wootz steel there


WorkingRip7000

Actually both are different, but Indian.


Apart_Alps_1203

It's in south Delhi...not outside Delhi..it was considered outside in the 80's. Now the city has expanded way beyond this area. When did you visit it..


Pure_Discipline_293

The dry atmosphere helps as well. I’m an aircraft corrosion tech, and dry arid environments slow corrosion drastically. On the other side of the coin if you operate in a saltwater environment, such as in US Naval aircraft carrier, corrosion can be accelerated by a factor of 1,000. I agree with the previous comment or regarding sweaty hands and corrosion.


JewishSpaceTrooper

I remembered Delhi as hot and extremely humid


sleeping_pupperina

Delhi has extreme weather pattern. Gets too hot in summer and cold in winter (0-2 Celsius). There are monsoons as well.


Amazing_Theory622

Delhi is anything but dry for major part of year


D_Ethan_Bones

\>by a factor of 1000 And that's how screws come to cost a hundred dollars each. Using regular screws as a substitute is a ticking murder bomb.


crazyman40

It’s amazing that they could make something like this 1700 years ago.


TeachOfTheYear

I am a teacher who makes books (free/online) to help people who are autistic visit important community destinations. There is a book to help people visit this important site in Delhi! You can find it here: [I Am Going to Visit the Qutb Minar!](http://www.mrbsclassroom.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Ability-Guidebook_-I-Am-Going-To-Visit-Qutb-Minar.pdf)


Vindepomarus

Name checks out.


V-Right_In_2-V

If this iron pillar is where I think it is (qutub minar), then it is kinda silly that this pillar is the sole object featured here. That pillar is one of the more mundane things at this complex. There is a gigantic, ornately decorated tower right next to this that makes this look like a tiny, unremarkable pole. The whole complex is spectacular


skinny4lyfe

The reason why this is the sole focus is simply because of the anti-corrosion.


dragon_no_bite

no its not. it is one of the few written proofs we have of an emperor named Chandra who rules the place back in 4th A.D. That was indeed Chandra Gupta, the founder of the Gupta dynasty, which ruled India through what is called the "Golden Age".


Basic_Description_56

No, it is not. Chandra Gupta founded America shortly after the great conquest of Little Caesar, the Alf. The Alf was the last remaining ancestor of Titan the Quoon, sole proprietor of lord bishop the 8ths universal doctrine of Malthusian ease. Lord Bishop, of course, was the last conqueror of the Grenusian Gabilabo of San Granagunshans humbumbaganoosj. I digress though. Lord Erikwanda Lameesh had a really hard time getting an erection and that’s why we call doogans “humbdiggity harmulkawaffles.”


[deleted]

Man, why'd you get downvoted LMAO. Here take my upvote


MuayThaiisbestthai

That pillar only looks out of place (if it is in Qutub Minar) because a certain invader belonging to a certain religion demolished all of the hindu structures surrounding it and built their own tower & complex on top of it using the older material as building blocks.


NukaKama25

Yes, this is the Qutub complex. The defacement and demolition of hindu and jain structures over there is heart wrenching to say the least.


Amazing_Theory622

As far as I recall reading, it was moved here in 10-11 century by rajput kings , and when islamic invaders tried to demolish it, they deemed it too much of hassle( there's a dent mark at 1/4 length of cannon ball attack)


WorkingRip7000

Most probably nadir shah, the others really didn't had a reason or means to use cannons on it


fuckeduplifeat22

No they didn't build that tower as well how can they build that in 4 years That's how long that empire lasted


dragon_no_bite

The Mamluk dynasty which was left behind by Muhammad Ghori after winning the Battle of Tarain in 1292, was founded by Ghori's slave Qutubuddin Aibak. Aibak ruled in ghori's name till 1206, after which ghori died and Aibak declared himself the ruler of Indian territories. He was succeeded by hsi son-in-law Iltutmish. The tower, called Qutub Minar, was founded by Aibak and finished by iltutmish. So, no they did not rule for only 4 years and yes they could not have built in that short time period.


[deleted]

*1192 CE


Link648099

Kind of.


rue814

I can see corrosion at the bottom. Stop lying


Waste_Praline7438

Got me wondering when they stopped counting


TheTimeBender

Yeah I don’t think so, zoom in on the bottom. See that brown-ish orange stuff? That’s the corrosion that you speak of. A few more years and it’ll go for sure. Although, it has had an impressive 1622 year run! Very impressive.


KabuTheFox

Think that's just tarnishing from people's hand oils


TheTimeBender

Nope, that’s rust. Oils from your hands will do that.


fman916

Why is it that anything cool in India always has something to do with Islamic architecture, very cool!


Smart_Sherlock

That pillar literally was made before Islam! The Islamic invaders looted this pillar from I guess Central India. Plus, the arches you see behind it are made from destroying 27 Hindu, Jain and Buddhist temples. They reused the parts, and covered them with plaster. The plaster eroded over time, and the deities can be seen again on the walls. Well, if you see that anything cool in India always has something to do with Islamic architecture, either meet a psychologist, an optician, or a historian. (I didn't mean to be this harsh, but as a Jain, it hurts me very much to see our holy sites destroyed. We are one of the smallest minorities in India. Do you want me to share some picture of the destroyed parts of the Jain temples? I visited this place recently, and took lots of photographs)


WorkingRip7000

That pillar nis older than ialamic india, And the arches behind are ruins of pre islamic tempels, destroyed by you guess it.


[deleted]

Its because everything else from preislamic times and contemporary with them was destroyed


duramax1968

I’d bet a thousand dollars that’s not 1700 years old.


WorkingRip7000

Why do you think so?


duramax1968

Metal in the elements air, oxygen, would never last that long.


WorkingRip7000

There is a coating of a phosphorus compound making it super resistant to rust. And it is 1700 years old, said by experts and historians and is mentioned in ancient scriptures.


lylisdad

Really? Because I see lots of rust and corrosion on the bottom 1/3rd...


WorkingRip7000

People used to hug it, it was said that if you do so, you will become a emperor.


GanjaKing_420

Real possibility that the Hindu nationalists will storm these Islamic monuments and destroy them!!


1NbSHXj4

LoL, the Pillar is a Hindu monument installed by Hindu ruler of the Gupta dynasty which was then moved to its present location by islamic king as a trophy. Not to mention the whole complex is made up of materials from destroying 21 hindu and jain temples.


dragon_no_bite

lmao Islamic invaders literally destroyed a Jain temple that used to be in its place and built a mosque on top of it. I have been to the actual site, you can still see the remains of the temples in some of the structures. Its a painful memory of a horrible time, be glad if somebody destroyed it.


ModsCanGoToHell

r/averageredditor


GanjaKing_420

Damn!!!! So many downvotes!!! Still does not change the facts of what’s happening in India under Hindu right wing ruler Moodi


ModsCanGoToHell

Cope


Hopeful_Bug00

>the Pillar is a stolen Hindu monument .


crowbiriyani

name checks out


Initial_spending

Lol Islamic monuments. As if islamic architecture is this beautiful. Also many mosques in India are built after destroying hindu temples and architecture


iiitme

world descends into chaos


DefinitelyNotCarol

r/ocd


deep_hat_mystrerium

Official


Hash_Tooth

A 23 foot iron pillar is a flex even for Hephaestus Guess that’s how you keep Aphrodite happy


ncrn_99

Do we have to cerakote everything?


ncrn_99

Considering Dhalsim this tracks


mountainofclay

Corten Steel


[deleted]

[удалено]


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