Indy’s big quest in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom were the missing Sankara Stones. One of the five stones was found in a small village, providing crops and life to the people. Two stones were found beneath Pankot Palace where Mola Ram had slaves digging for the remaining two. Mola Ram believed that once he found all five stones he would be able to destroy the other religions of the world, his first step to conquering the globe for his goddess Kali.
Each of the prop stones were realized as two different sets of props, a natural rock and a glowing stone. The natural versions of the props were a solid resin cast. They featured the traditional three horizontal carved lines of the linga representing the three levels of the universe. According to the film, the diamonds within the stones glowed when brought together. For this effect, light bulbs were placed within plastic casts of the stones.
The Sankara Stones are based on the sivalinga (or shiva linga), the symbol of the Hindu god Shiva. Originally the cylindrical shape represented the formlessness of creation, then gradually became associated with Shiva. In temples to Shiva, the sivalinga, often interpreted as the divine phallus of Shiva, is adored instead of him. All Shiva temples have sivalinga as the main deity.
In early 1993, Prop Master’s David Oliver was fortunate enough to purchase much of the inventory of Barry Wilkinson, Head Property Master on many major Lucasfilm projects. Barry had purchased a great number of props after each film had been shot. These were then added to his inventory for re-hire.
Among the items David bought were the remainder of the Shankara Stones apart from those sent back to Lucasfilm. The Stones included pre-production props, off sized, no stripes, wrong color, etc. as well as the hero screen used versions. David sold through two hero Stones through Christies London auctions which finally ended up with Planet Hollywood. He sold two privately, one together with all the non used/pre-production stones thrown in. David kept “the best three,” the mostly used three for himself but in the years since has also sold those.
