Mystery of strange cubes found in city river deepens

THE mystery behind strange cubes pulled out of a Coventry river continues to deepen after those who found them revealed there could be 40 more to find in the city.

The missing cubes, which are believed to be inscribed with a sacred numerical inscription, could be resting at the bottom of the River Sowe in south Coventry.

Will Read discovered an initial haul of 60 lead squares believed to be connected to a mystical Hindu prayer ritual while out sifting through shallow water.

The 38-year-old, from Finham, now believes there might be even more to be found.

He had been magnet fishing with his two young sons but was able to reach in and pick up the objects, which bear inscriptions set into grids on each side.

After sharing the pictures of the find on social media, Will received several responses suggesting the cubes show ‘yantra’ - mystical diagrams that are used for worship.

However, exactly how and why so many of the objects, and a silver coin which he also retrieved, came to rest on the riverbed is still a mystery.

He said: “From one person’s opinion who sounds well-informed the cubes were probably handmade, not mass produced, so they are most likely one of a kind.

“They also said the yantra is meant to be read out 108 times, so they would expect 108 of these to be in the river. So either I have not found them or other people may have found them over the years.”

The riddle also drew a lively reaction on Coventrylive’s Facebook page.

Aniket Khedekar was among those offering an explanation to the puzzle.

Aniket wrote: “The inscriptions are actually numbers. But I don’t think the cubes themselves are of any significant value.

“They might be related to astrology as mentioned in the article. The inscription on the coin is of goddess Ambika.”

At first, Will thought the cubes were just random pieces of debris littering the bottom of the river.

But as he and sons Jackson, five, and Benjamin, seven, took a closer look they noticed the detailed inscriptions set onto the faces of the squares.

The sides of the objects, small enough to hold between finger and thumb, are set into neat grids with inscriptions thought to be in Sanskrit.

Will said: “We were out magnet fishing as our daily activity in lockdown and we were at a relatively isolated spot. At first we found keys and pennies and other bits and bobs and then we looked down and saw what we thought were tiles.

“I was live-streaming to friends on Facebook and I bent down and started picking them up. I also thought they might be rocks. I showed them to the camera and as I looked back more and more kept appearing.” Tidying up the haul, Will posted images of the cubes on Facebook and content sharing website Reddit to try and find out more about his unusual catch. Based on the responses, he believes the objects are connected to a Hindu prayer ritual. “There were all sorts of stories flying around at first, the cubes really captured people’s imaginations,” Will said.

“What I learned is that they are Indian in origin and they show incantations for prayers which take effect when they are thrown in running water.”

Other than a different face on one side, all of the cubes are identical, possibly because they contain a numerical formula to summon the protection of Rahu, described by the Shrivinayaka Astrology website as a planet with god-like powers.

Rahu’s sphere of control includes thieves, magicians, snakes, poison, jails and isolated places, according to the resource.

Responses to the pictures on social media suggest the characters are in Sanskrit, the liturgical language of Hinduism, and show ‘yantra’ - mystical diagrams that are used for worship.

One of most likely explanations comes from a beach combing website, where one contributor describes similar finds of “numerical planetary yantras made of solid lead.”

A numerical formula contained within the cubes is said by the finder to relate to Rahu.

Worshippers who place the “so-called magic square” in running water receive his protection from “hidden enemies, wrong diagnosis of illness and deceit”, according to the contributor.

However, the puzzle is from complete, as no one has been able to put a date on the objects or to explain why so many would end up being thrown into a quiet river in Coventry.

Will has returned on two more occasions to the spot, the precise location of which he does not want to disclose, and has also found a silver coin which was lying by the cubes. “The more I learn the stranger it becomes,” Will said. “No one can explain why there would be so many of these cubes in one place. It feels incredibly unusual to have found so many.”