Context: Ahead of the laying of the foundation stone for a temple, claims and denials have emerged about plans to put in a time capsule, or ‘Kaal Patra’.
What is a Time Capsule?

• The Time capsule will carry a message about Ayodhya, Lord Ram and his place of birth in Sanskrit. The Time capsule will be placed inside a copper plate or 'Tamra Patras' before placing it below the site. As per Chaupal, Sanskrit is chosen as one could write long sentences in a few words.
• It is a container of any size or shape, which accommodates documents, photos and artefacts typical of the current era and is buried underground, for future generaons to unearth.
• The Time capsule requires special engineering so that the contents don’t decay, even if pulled out after a century.
• Material such as aluminium and stainless steel are used for the encasing, and documents are often reproduced on acid-free paper.

Famous Time Capsules in the World

• Oldest Time capsule: On 30 November 2017, a 400-year-old time capsule was found inside the statue of Jesus Christ in Burgos, Spain carrying economic, polical and cultural informaon dang back to the year 1777. According to experts, it is the oldest Time capsule found to date.
• The “Century Safe": The world’s first planned time capsule was established at Philadelphia Centennial Exposition (USA) in 1876. It was opened and resealed in 1976.
• The Crypt of Civilization in Georgia: It was built around 1940 at Oglethorpe University in Brookhaven, Georgia and is scheduled for opening in the year 8113 AD. It is a project to preserve all human knowledge and was the brainchild of Thornwell Jacobs, also known as father of time capsules.
• The Voyager and Voyager II Spacecraft: They are currently circling on the edge of our solar system. These capsules were created by NASA to be seen by future generations.

Time Capsules In India

• Outside the Red Fort: This was placed underground in 1972 by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, was dug out by the subsequent government in 1977. It raised a controversy as it was said to glorify Gandhi Nehru family in indian History.
• At IIT Kanpur Campus: This time capsule was buried on 6th March, 2010 containing details on IIT Kanpur in the form of documents, photographs, and films.
• At The Alexandra Girls’ English Institution, Mumbai: It was set up in the 19th century and is scheduled to be opened in 2062. It contains information on the school.
• At Jalandhar’s Lovely Public University: It was buried in January 2019 and contains 100 items that represent modern-day technology in India.

Global society
International Time Capsule Society

• The International Time Capsule Society (ITCS), based in the US and formed in 1990, is now defunct but continues estimating the number of time capsules in the world.
• As per its database, there are “10,000-15,000 times capsules worldwide”.

Significance of time capsules

• Historians often criticize the idea of being motivated.
• This exercise is inevitably a subjective exercise, geared towards glorification not to construct the real picture.
• All historians look at this time capsule exercise with suspicion.
• It’s not a valid historical method — who decides what matter, what artefacts, written documents are going into it