The 4000 year old labyrinth in Russia looks like the Chakra Vyuha of Mahabharata.

 

The famous labyrinth near Kandalakshi in Kola Peninsula in Russia is a source of mystery to researchers. Diverse theories have been mooted that range from ritualistic purpose to navigational guide to seafarers, owing to the fact that similar labyrinths are found in the coastal region around the peninsula. The location is far north, lying inside the Arctic Circle.

The labyrinth that is dated at 2000 BCE is shown below.

Mysterious stone labyrinths on the Kola Peninsula. Source: Lori/Legoion-Media

The surprise element is that this looks similar to the Chakra Vyuha – the circular formation of military array employed by the Kauravas in the Mahabharata war in which Abhimanyu, the son of Arjuna was trapped and killed.

Though no one have an idea of how this formation looked like, I happened to see this formation in the walls of Halebid temple and am producing it here from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Halebid2.JPG .

The utility of this formation seems to work in two days. One can be kept safe in the middle from an attacker who would find it difficult to reach him though he could see him. The attacker, if not aware of the route runs the danger of getting trapped. That was how Abhimanyu was trapped.

The similar design of the labyrinth in Kola Peninsula makes me think that it could have been used to trap animals. Once an animal enters the labyrinth, it may be going round and round through the passages and may not know how to come out of it.

The date of the labyrinth in Kandalaksha coincided with the presence of the Sami people, known for hunting and reindeer herding. They might have used these labyrinths to trap the animals or keeping them from escape. But from where they got the exact replica of this design?

Its here I find this labyrinth as an additional evidence for Sami people’s connection with India in a remote past. They share  lot of cultural similarities with Indians, particularly the Tamil people, which can be read in my blog on Sami and Estonia connection with Tamils .

Wherever the Tamil presence is noticed in the past, there similar labyrinths are found. The tablet with the motif of the labyrinth shown below was recovered from the site of the Mycenaean palace supposed to have been destroyed in a fire in 1200 BCE. Though rectangular, the concept is the same.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:NAMA_Tablette_1287.jpg

Similar rectangular labyrinth is found engraved in a silver coin found in Knossos, where Minotaur was housed. Its period was 400 BCE. It is shown below.

 

The myth of the Minotaur who was housed at the centre of this labyrinth might give further clues on the utility of the labyrinth at Kandalaksha. Either a tough animal was kept trapped there or some precious animal was kept safe from the predators.

Much older than these from the Minoan and Sami society, were the seals of Lothal that also exhibit similar but simple patterns of labyrinth.

The early Harappan (Lothal) coinciding with the Mahabharata time (3136 BCE) we find the Chakra Vyuha of Mahabharata the oldest of all the available designs of the labyrinths. From Mahabharata, we are able to further connect it with the design of the chamber of the Soma drinker. The Soma drinker was expected to confine himself within a chamber. Though the chamber does not look like a labyrinth, one has to go around and round to reach the middle chamber whose purpose was to keep the person (soma drinker) away from outside world and particularly away from sunlight! A reconstruction of such a model chamber has been attempted by scholars based on Susruta samhita.

Source article : The Soma Drinker of Ancient India - Kamla-Raj Enterprises

Similar purpose of keeping the Minotaur is found in the Mycenaean labyrinth. The Kandalaksha labyrinth also could have been used for a similar purpose of keeping their herd in safe custody.

Related articles from my blog:

Labyrinth of Minotaur

Tamil connection to Sami people  

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From

https://www.look4ward.co.uk/archeology/baffling-puzzle-prehistoric-russia-s-labyrinths/

The Baffling Puzzle Of Prehistoric Russia’s Labyrinths

 June 26, 2017

In early October 2014 the Kosmopoisk research expedition on the Kola Peninsula in northwest Russia, an area with five stone labyrinths, came to an end. Some of these archeological monuments date back to 2,000 B.C., meaning that they are older than the Egyptian pyramids. Traditional science links the labyrinths to northern peoples’ religious outlooks. However, one of Russia’s most well-known researchers of anomalous phenomena, Vadim Chernobrov, the director of Kosmopoisk, is convinced that the stone patterns served as landmarks for ancient mariners.

Where do these circles come from?

The most famous labyrinth above Russia’s polar circle can be reached by foot from the little town of Kandalakshi in the southern part of the Kola Peninsula, about 800 miles from Moscow. The path goes through a pine forest, with volunteers from a local ecological organization putting up signs so tourists do not get lost.

The ancient builders chose a perfectly round peninsula for the labyrinths. The stone roads are now almost completely covered with grass and moss. There is a plaque declaring that the archeological monument dates back to 2,000 B.C., the only reminder of the site’s place in antiquity.

These types of labyrinths, or Babylons, as scientists call them, are also found on the coasts of the White Sea and the Barents Sea, in Scandinavian countries and on the British islands. It is still not clear why they were built and scientists are divided on the issue. Some think that the labyrinths were used in shamanistic rituals, while others are convinced of Babylons’ utilitarian nature: they could have been traps for fish or orientation points for seafarers.

“The sailors had to place marks on safe plots of land,” says Chernobrov. “And it was even more important to indicate the place where they could push out from the coast towards the open sea. In antiquity, fearing storms, mariners tried to navigate along the coast, but in many places it made sense to shorten the route through straits, gulfs and the open sea. The labyrinths were points of a guiding thread, leading the navigators along the coast.

In order to prove their theory, members of the expedition used geometric constructions that determine how far the labyrinths could be seen from the sea. Chernobrov believes that the labyrinths were intentionally given a round form so that the pattern could be seen at a distance of several miles independently of the sun’s position during the entire polar day.

During the expedition researchers frequently noticed that the labyrinth is never found in the shade of cliffs or trees and that the sunlight always makes it stand out if observed against a gloomy landscape. It is even noticeable when covered with moss and lichen. Even in the winter, when covered by a thick layer of snow, the pattern can be seen clearly.

Kosmopoisk’s version of events is not considered mainstream in scientific circles. Most scientists believe that the Babylons were used by ancient peoples for religious rituals, such as when appealing to deities for an abundance of fish. The round patterns could have been guides into the kingdom of the dead or for detaining the soul of a deceased person so that it could not enter the world of the living.

Scientists say that the version about the labyrinths being beacons is not scientific. “Can an exponent of this theory name at least one historical reference in which a real mariner reported how the labyrinth helped him orient towards land?” asks Konstantin Kotkin, researcher at the Murmansk Region Local History Museum. “Most likely not. I am not familiar with these sources. And science is supported precisely by this type of information.”

There is another version in the documents describing the labyrinths. Since the Babylons were built next to the sea in places abundant with fish, they could have been used as traps. The fish could have been brought into the confused patterns with the flow of the tide and then might not have been able to find their way back as the water ebbed. However, this theory also has not received much recognition.

According to Kotkin, in order for ancient people to feed themselves in this manner, it would have been necessary to build an enormous number of labyrinths with one at each location where fishermen threw out their nets, which is difficult to imagine.

Another debatable question is the date of the labyrinths. Scientists in the middle of the 20th century estimated them to be 4,000 years old. Contemporary researchers, however, say that the stone patterns are much younger. They determine their age by the height of the lichen growing inside the labyrinths. Unfortunately, no one has any concrete proof.

“Science is incapable of unequivocally solving the problem of the age or the purpose of the labyrinths,” says Kotkin. “The monuments don’t tell us anything about themselves and it is very difficult to prove any of the theories. Therefore any one of them is as good as the other. It is important that the theories are supported by real facts. However, all in all, without a doubt the labyrinths are valuable archeological findings that demonstrate the uniqueness of the Russian North.”