News has been spreading on the Internet for several years now: a sculptural image of a man on a bicycle was found in an Indian temple, and this supposedly confirms that this type of transport has existed for thousands of years. We decided to check the authenticity of such messages.
Users of social networks talk about the amazing discovery (“VKontakte", "Classmates", Facebook*, Instagram*, TikTok) and blogging platforms (“Peekaboo", "Zen"). Some publications specify that we are talking about the Panchavarnaswamy Temple, others only indicate that the bas-relief was discovered in India. The text of the posts is almost identical in content, although they differ in wording. At the same time, photographs of two completely different bas-reliefs are given as illustrations.
The first device similar to a modern bicycle, in 1817 developed German inventor Karl von Dres. It was much more primitive than current models, did not have a steering mechanism or pedals, and to set it in motion, a person had to push off the ground with his feet. Over the next half century, inventors from different countries created and improved similar designs until, by the 1860s, the bicycle acquired a look similar to the modern one. However, if you believe viral posts with photographs of bas-reliefs, bicycles as we know them were known to mankind many centuries before the invention of Drez.
Using a reverse image search on Google Images, Verified found the first of two viral photos in the image database Wikimedia Commons. The description for it indicates that the picture was not taken in India at all, but at the Maduwe Karang Temple on the island of Bali in Indonesia. Photos of the bas-relief meet on pages, dedicated to this temple, on many tourist websites.
Although Indonesia is the largest Muslim country in the world, most of Bali's population professes Hinduism, so the temples of this island can easily be confused with Indian ones. However, in viral publications the age of the structure is significantly exaggerated - it was erected at the end of the 19th century, when Indonesia was a Dutch colony. Bicycles already existed by that time and were quite common, so in this sense there is nothing sensational in such a bas-relief.
According to one of versions, the cyclist depicted on the wall of the temple is a Dutch artist Wijnand Nieuwenkamp. It's his first time visited Bali in 1898, and over the next 40 years he came five more times, spending a total of several years on the island. Researchers believe, that the bas-relief was created in 1904, so that its prototype could indeed be Nieuwenkamp.
As for the second image, found in viral posts about the supposed technological achievements of the ancient Indians, it actually shows imprinted bas-relief of the Indian Panchavarnaswamy temple. Unlike Maduwe Karang, its history actually goes back more than a thousand years - however, the exact year of its construction is unknown.
Visitors have noticed the mysterious bicycle on the temple wall before. Thus, an Indian ophthalmologist named Kalaikovan back in 1980 noticed unusual bas-relief and became so interested in it that he conducted his own research. An amateur historian has concluded that the image was added to the wall during renovations in the 1920s. His conclusions confirm and professional scientists. In their opinion, there is nothing surprising in such a bas-relief, since the decorative elements of temples changed over time, and this particular one most likely dates back to the period when India was British colony (1858–1947). By the way, Kalaikovan was so fascinated by the study of the mysterious bas-relief that over the next few decades he began studying the history of other temples in this region of India, gathering a group of like-minded people.
Viral publications that the bicycle was known to the people of India many centuries ago are believed not only by ordinary Internet users. June 3, 2020, World Bicycle Day, Indian Culture Minister Prahlad Singh Patel shared with a photo of the bas-relief on Twitter (now X), doubting that this vehicle was invented by Europeans only 200 years ago. The politician later deleted his post.
Thus, neither of the two viral images proves that the bicycle was invented in India about 2000 years ago. The bas-relief in one of the photographs is located on the wall of a temple in Indonesia, which was built at the end of the 19th century, after the invention of the bicycle. The second photo was actually taken in an Indian temple built more than 1000 years ago. But researchers agree that this decorative element was added much later - most likely during the reconstruction of the temple at the beginning of the 20th century.
*Russian authorities think Meta Platforms Inc., which owns the social networks Instagram and Facebook, is an extremist organization; its activities and symbols are prohibited in Russia.
Cover photo: social networks
Read on the topic:
- AFP. Non, ce bas-relief ne prouve pas l'existence de vlos il y a 2.000 ans
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