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Why Do Ancient Temples Have Moats? - YouTube
Channel: PraveenMohan
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hey guys
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today i'm gonna show you
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why many ancient temples have
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moats around them you can take angkor
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wat which is the largest hindu temple in
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the world and it is completely
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surrounded by water on all four sides
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you can take the great brisbane temple
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in tanjavur and you can see a water body
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around it too
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many ancient temples are designed this
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way but there should be a serious
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question
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popping in your mind right now
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a moat by definition is a defense
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mechanism it protects people inside it
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if you look at wikipedia it says
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historically to provide a structure with
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a preliminary
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line of defense
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modes are typically used in castles to
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prevent enemies from attacking them
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easily
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but these are temples these are places
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of worship not castles or forts
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kings and even common people don't live
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inside these temples so
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why were these moats necessary
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archaeologists and historians have
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cracked this a long time ago let's look
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under the plan section of angkor wat in
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wikipedia the temple is a representation
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of mount meru the home of gods according
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to hindu mythology the central quincunx
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of towers symbolizes the five peaks of
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the mountain and the walls and moat
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symbolize the surrounding mountain
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ranges
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and ocean
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so it clearly states that the moat was
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just a representation of the sea
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surrounding the mythical mountain called
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meru so you can see that ancient hindus
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were making these elaborate structures
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in fact my long structures just to mimic
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an imaginary mountain called meru and if
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you're a hindu you know that lord vishnu
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will always sleep
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in the middle of the sea of milk so the
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moat must have been an absolute
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requirement there is even a huge carving
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of the churning of the sea of milk
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in angkor wat temple
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you see this is how the ancient builders
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really thought
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they had deep superstitious beliefs and
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to make these myths into reality to make
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their fantasies real they went through
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great pains
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this is why they built this massive moat
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to ensure that lord visnu can reside
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in the sea of milk
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if you believe this theory
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you belong to the mainstream people
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these kinds of theories are repeatedly
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mentioned in history books wikipedia
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and tv programs it sounds almost
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realistic but in reality it actually
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demeans
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ancient builders
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why
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because it assumes that whoever built
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this gigantic moat
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did not build it for a scientific reason
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the fact is whoever built the largest
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religious structure in the world would
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have been anything but unscientific
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of course nobody asks
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if temples dedicated to lord vishnu
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needed moats to symbolize the sea of
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milk
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why do temples dedicated to lord siva
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like the brahmiswara temple
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also have modes around them
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what about coker pyramid this is also an
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ancient hindu pyramid
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why was that designed with a moat
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today i'm going to demonstrate
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why these modes were actually built to
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do this i've come to the ancient site of
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mahabalipuram it's a fascinating
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location with many ancient temples
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but the secret
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does not lie in the temples the secret
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lies
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in the beach
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now where will this rod stand firmly if
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i take this rod and stick it in this
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sand
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that does not have any moisture
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will it stand firmly here
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or if i take this rod and if i walk over
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here
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and stick it in this sand
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that has a lot of moisture will it stand
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firmly
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in this sand
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where do you think
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the rod will stand firmly
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did you just have an aha moment it's
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like magic isn't it once i reveal the
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secret it sounds so obvious
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this is what ancient wisdom
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really is the answer
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is right in front of your eyes hiding in
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plain sight
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all the time but the paradox is to
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understand the science behind ancient
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wisdom
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first you have to believe
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that ancient builders did everything for
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a scientific reason you have to remove
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the prejudice in your mind that ancient
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temples were built by a bunch of
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superstitious people who just built
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things for just random rituals
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but this is not a conscious thought it
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is a deep-rooted subconscious belief
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that is subliminally enforced not only
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by history books but by the society
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itself
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the reason for constructing a moat a
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water body near the temple or around the
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temple is that some types of soil
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require constant moisture to hold
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structures firmly in fact in the case of
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prahudi surah temple archaeologists have
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even found inscriptions that ancient
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builders did extensive soil tests before
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starting the construction
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so they needed the water to provide
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moisture to the soil
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today
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architects and civil engineers
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have a separate term for this they call
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it omc
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optimum moisture content now think about
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this why were many ancient temples built
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with their own water tanks
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there are huge reservoirs in ancient
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temples some of them are extremely
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ornate and beautiful history books and
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wikipedia will make superficial claims
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that water is very important for hindu
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rituals
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spiritual cleansing etc
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but
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ancient architects killed two birds with
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one stone
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by setting up these temple tanks
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on one hand they made sure
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water was not stagnating too much around
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the main structures which can also make
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the temple weak
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they made sure the rain water falling on
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the structures will not stagnate there
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but be channeled into the tank on the
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other hand the temple tank will
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continuously but slowly keep on
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moisturizing the soil
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keeping the temple's base
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firm
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in fact the builders of angkor wat went
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through enormous pains to channel water
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from a far distant place
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to fill this moat around the temple when
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europeans first explored ancient hindu
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temples they were surprised to see
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these water bodies around them
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but
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you have to understand
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they could only compare them with what
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they had in europe many european castles
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had modes that were created for defense
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they lived in a constant state of war
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actually some entire cities were set up
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with modes so they just theorized that
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these hindu temples were also built with
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protective modes
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until today no english word has been
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coined for these water bodies around
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these temples because archaeologists
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never made an effort to understand why
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they were created these are not moats at
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all they were not created for defense
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purposes but were created to provide a
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firm soil
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for the temple to last long but they
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should coin a new word for this i hope
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you like this video i am praveen mohan
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thanks a lot for watching don't forget
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to subscribe and i will talk to you soon
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bye
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[Music]
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[Music]
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you're ready
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