Jain Journal 1991 10

Author(s): Jain Bhawan Publication
Publisher: Jain Bhawan Publication

Page 54

Gleanings
A God descended from Heaven
J. J, Rawal
Some 100 kilometres away from the district headquarters of Buldhana in interior Maharashtra, lies a village called Lonar. It's like any other village nearby if one considers the lifestyles of the inhabitants. But the village is different in that it had played host to an astronomical visitor in the not too distant past-in geological terms of course. And the visitor has left a wonderful imprint in the form of a near perfect circular crater now turned into a lake. About two kilometres in diameter, the Lonar lake is about 250 metres deep. To walk around its craggy edges could take the uninitiated a full day but the hectic trek is worthwhile.
Legend has it the second of the Pāņdava brothers, Bhima, had a bath in this steep walled lake which was believed to be the skull top of the demon Kumbhakarņa, Råvaņa's sleepy brother. According to another story, the demon Lavaņāsura (from whose name the village and lake get their name) hid inside the lake to escape the wrath of Lord Vişņu. The god Vişņu, as in most mythological tales, outwitted the wicked demon, killed him and helped restore peace on earth. The lake also finds mention in the Skanda Purāņa and the Padma Purāņa. Lonar is just 800 km by road from Bombay.
The Lonar lake, the only one of its kind in India lies in an ancient meteoritic impact crater. Craters are basically of two kinds : volcanic craters and impact craters. And then of course there are craters caused by man made agents like say, an explosion,
Impact craters caused by strikes of astronomical objects big and small are almost universal. The surfaces of all planets and moons that we have been able to see have such craters. And when scientists spot an object without such craters they have to look for reasons that could