(Original headline: Mystery of the hot pillar )
AGRA: A pillar in a temple at Agra mysteriously heated up, causing anxiety and fear among devotees who frequent it.
"Temple visitors found the pillar and surrounding areas unbearably hot," Rajendra Prasad Sharma, the temple priest, said.
The Devi temple is situated in Krishna colony of the city's Jeoni Mandi area and also runs a primary school within it premises. And now, parents of children who attend the school are a worried lot.
The schoolteachers have appealed to the district authorities to solve the mystery and ensure the safety of the students.
According to Sharma, detailed investigations have led to several stories and probable reasons for this sudden phenomenon.
A devotee at the temple said there used to be an idol of the goddess at the place where the pillar was constructed and hence could be a divine indication.
An informed source said: "Something seems to be going on in the earth down there and some day there could be a big explosion."
Sharma warned that even if there was no immediate explosion, the continuous heating up of the pillar could bring the temple's edifice down and cause extensive damage.
Scientific opinion on the phenomenon remained divided. A physics teacher said there could be a leak in the electric wiring, but there is no evidence of any electric wiring going down the pillar.
Birbal Singh, a seismologist, suggested the heating could be from gas storage below the structure or an indication of an imminent tremor.
However, since the area being heated up was just about a metre, experts were of the opinion that it could be a temporary phenomenon and things would return to normal in a couple of days.
