India: Madhya Pradesh family's sacred totem 'kuldevta' turns out to be dinosaur egg

Throughout history, faith has emerged as a universal thread woven through the tapestry of human experience. It manifests itself in a myriad of forms across cultures and beliefs. In India's Madhya Pradesh, faith and belief turned out to be caretakers of important natural relics from the past: dinosaur eggs.

Stone balls or something else?

In Madhya Pradesh's Dhar, the Mandaloi family has been worshipping palm-sized "stone balls" for generations.

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A resident of the Padlya Village, 41-year-old Vesta Mandaloi was following in his forefathers' footsteps, worshipping these balls as "Kakar Bhairav" — or lord of the land.

As per a Times Of India report, Vesta and his family believed that the stone balls were a 'Kuldevta' or a totem that would protect their farmland and cattle from problems and misfortunes. Like the Mandaloi family, others in Dhar and in adjoining areas too had similar totems they worshipped for protection.

However, a team of researchers revealed that these balls turned out to be something else. Experts from Lucknow's Sahni Institute of Palaeosciences during a field visit determined that these stone ball totems were actually dinosaur eggs from a bygone era.

After an analysis, they came to the conclusion that these balls were fossilised eggs of the Titanosaurs species of dinosaurs.

Titanosaurs

It is the first Indian dinosaur to be named and properly described. The specieswas recorded for the first time in 1877, and its name means 'titanic lizard'. Titanosauris among the largest dinosaurs to have roamed the planet. As per estimates, the species roamed the region around 70 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period.

Earlier this year, more than 250 eggs of the titanic lizard that once roamed the Narmada valley were discovered in MP's Dhar district.

In January, a study, published in the peer-reviewed scientific journal PLOS One detailed field research carried out by a team of researchers from Delhi University (DU) and the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) in Bhopal. They had uncovered 92 nesting sites containing 256 fossil eggs belonging to titanosaurs.

(With inputs from agencies)