The Veerabhadra Temple in Andhra Pradesh is famous of its Aakaasa Sthambha (floating pillar). This pillar hangs from the ceiling and is not grounded to the floor.

The temple has a massive Dance Hall with numerous pillars supporting the roof but one corner pillar is the famous 'hanging pillar' that does not touch the temple floor at all. Puzzled by this, a British engineer Hamilton tried to rectify this architectural phenomenon in 1910.

He tried to make one corner of the pillar to touch the ground, which led to a tectonic shift in the roof of this outer hall. It resulted in a distortion of roof alignment, leaving the pillars to lean and roof paintings hampered. The engineer realized that any further attempt could instead ruin this entire edifice. Further research revealed that the pillar acted as a stabilizer to the hall's roof. Hence, a minor change could ruin this balance and cause irreparable damage to the structure.