The shadows of space – The Hindu

Ravana and Meghnath are in the terrace of the observatory in Lanka. After hearing about the Raman Effect, Meghnath is playing with a set of glass prisms, scattering rainbows across the stone floor.

Meghnath: If light can be scattered and bent, can it be completely erased?

Ravana opens his mouth to answer when a magnificent flying chariot suddenly appears. When it lands, the doors open and out steps Shukracharya, Ravana’s guru. Mayasura, Ravana’s father-in-law and Meghnath’s grandfather, receives him and brings him to the terrace.

Ravana (bows): Welcome. What brings you here?

Shukracharya: I have unlocked a secret not about light but about the dark.

Meghnath drops his prism and steps closer. The four of them stand around a massive, glowing table projecting a map of the stars.

Shukracharya: You play with photons, Meghnath. But look up at the night sky. What do you see?

Meghnath: Stars. Planets. Galaxies.

Shukracharya: Exactly. But everything we can see, touch, and measure with light makes up only 5% of the universe.

Meghnath: What about the rest?

Shukracharya: The rest is shadow. If you spin a merry-go-round too fast, people might fly off. Galaxies spin very fast, but their stars don’t fly away. Why? Because of an invisible “glue” called Dark Matter. We can’t see it, but its gravity holds galaxies together in a giant cosmic web. It makes up about 27% of the universe. It does not reflect light. It does not absorb light. Light simply passes through it, making it completely invisible!

Ravana: What about Dark Energy?

Shukracharya: That is even more terrifying. Much later in the future, a scientist named Albert Einstein will propose a Cosmological Constant. He will understand that the universe isn’t just sitting there; it is expanding. If Dark Matter is the Cosmic Glue, Dark Energy is the Cosmic Stretcher. Imagine the universe as a giant balloon being inflated. The galaxies are drawings on its surface. As the balloon gets bigger, the space between the galaxies stretches, moving them further and further apart. This mysterious force that is stretching space is Dark Energy, and it makes up 68% of the universe!

 Imagine the universe as a giant balloon being inflated. The galaxies are drawings on its surface. 
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Meghnath (excited): If Dark Matter doesn’t interact with light and makes things perfectly invisible, can we use it?

Shukracharya: That is why I am here, young prince. For you, we shall forge the Tamasi Maya that will wrap your chariot in a localised field of artificial Dark Matter. Light will bend completely around you. To your enemies, you will cease to exist and wage war unseen. For you, Ravana, the Tamasastra that projects this void. It will swallow the light on the battlefield, creating a blinding, terrifying darkness that no ordinary fire can pierce.

Meghnath (punches the air): If we control the darkness, we will be invincible. No one can defeat us.

Mayasura: Little prince, never rely on one extreme. If you master the ultimate darkness, you must also master the ultimate light. Darkness hides but light destroys.

Ravana: What do you mean?

Mayasura: If you use a magnifying glass to focus the sun’s rays on a dry leaf, what happens?

Meghnath: It catches fire. The photons are concentrated.

Mayasura: Correct. Later, humans will call this Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) or Laser (Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation). Ravana, I have designed a new weapon for you: the Sourastra, which fires solar chakras. These are not just metal discs but highly advanced, spinning optical lenses. As they fly through the air, they gather ambient sunlight, concentrate the photons into a high-energy beam at their centre, and release it upon impact. A localised, weaponised solar flare!

Mayasura projects an image of a spinning, blazing wheel.

Ravana (laughs): Brilliant! One weapon to blind them in the shadows of Dark Matter, and another to strike them with the concentrated fury of a star.

Shukracharya: Balance, Ravana. The universe is built on it. The unseen Dark Energy that pushes the cosmos apart and the brilliant photons that light it up. Master both, and you master the battlefield.

Meghnath: When do we start building, grandfather?

Mayasura: Right now. Put this on. (Gives Meghnath a welding mask) Put this on.

The Solar Chakra Experiment

Note: This experiment must be done only under adult supervision outdoors on a sunny day. NEVER look directly at the sun or focus the beam on a person, animal, or a flammable object.

Materials: Magnifying glass, one black balloon, one light balloon.

Step 1: Blow the two balloons till they are on the same size and tie the mouthpiece. Place them on a safe surface.

Step 2: Hold the magnifying glass between the Sun and the white balloon. Move the glass up and down until the sunlight passing through it forms a tiny, super-bright dot on the balloon’s surface. Hold it for a minute. Observe what happens. Probably nothing.

Step 3: Now repeat step 2 with the black balloon. When you focus the sunlight into a sharp dot, the balloon will burst almost immediately.

Explanation: The magnifying glass takes a wide area of sunlight (photons) and bends them to concentrate all the heat and energy on one tiny spot. White objects reflect most of the light that hits them, pushing the photons away. That’s why the white balloon didn’t get hot enough to melt. But dark objects (like the black balloon) absorb light. The dark color swallowed the concentrated photons, turning them instantly into intense heat, causing the balloon to pop!

The author is the founder and CEO of Vaayusastra Aerospace, an IIT-Madras IC graduated ed-tech company, and a Ph.D. research scholar in Education at NITTTR.

Published – March 20, 2026 10:02 am IST