Megalithic Culture of Vidarbha: Research and Ideas (original) (raw)
Related papers
Chronology of Vidarbha Megalithic Culture: An Appraisal
The presence of Megalithic monuments in Vidarbha came to limelight for the first time in 1847. British officials deputed in the region recovered and excavated many of the Megalithic sites during the pre-independent phase. Systematic and scientific research on Megalithic in the region was, however, initiated by S. B. Deo in 1960. It was his initiative that samples for 14C dates were collected and dated. Based on these obtained dates, Deo proposed a time bracket of 700-800 BC for the Megalithic culture in the region. However, a re-look into these dates and some other recent findings suggest that the beginning of the Megalithic culture in the region may go earlier than 700-800 BC. The present paper tries to evaluate both the available absolute and relative dates and argue for a possibility of pushing back the date for the beginning of Megalithic culture in Vidarbha.
Demographic Approach to Vidarbha Megalithic Culture
There are more then 100 Early Iron Age Megalithic culture sites in Vidarbha, Maharashtra state, India . Each site has several megalithic burials dating back to the first millennium BC. and continued till beginning of Christian era. Non recognizable or not finding of settlements associated to these burial sites have been argued in the background of nature of skeletal remains found along with burial goods to propose a population component which could have supported such an economy and ritual activity.
Abstract The Early Iron Age and Megalithic culture in Vidarbha has been studied on a wider scale over the past century and a half. However, problems like paucity of settlements, nature of subsistence, the process and methodology of intensive surveys for settlements, and also the synergy between settlements and burials have not been addressed in detail. Recent studies have revealed that many new settlements and also many new aspects of burial practices have been unearthed and traced by now. Earlier research put together with recent approaches and studies show the varied aspects of the Early Iron Age-Megalithic culture within the broader framework of the culture itself and can also help in determining the pivotal role played by the culture in the emergence of urbanization during the Early Historic period.
The megalithic culture is mostly known by the burial remains. There has always been an impression among research scholars that the megalithic people were pastoral in nature. The main reason for this has been the lack of sufficient evidence of settlement sites. Moreover, the region of Vidarbha has also not yielded many settlement sites. In Vidarbha, however, settlements of the Early Iron Age without burials, as well as sites having both settlements and burials are found. The recent settlement found at Mahurjhari by Mohanty (2015) have opened up new research avenues which have led this author to continue the search for many new settlements, thereby bringing a change in the approach towards the Early Iron Age and its contribution to the development of urbanism in Vidarbha.
The eastern part of Maharashtra or more specifically, Vidarbha is rich in terms of archeological vestiges relating to various times. Of these, megalithic structures constitute a specific category identified as “Vidarbha Megaliths”. Number of megalithic burial sites have been explored and excavated since independence in central part of Vidarbha especially in Nagpur district. However, in comparison, eastern part of Vidarbha region significantly lags behind when it comes to the number of documented megalithic sites. Nevertheless, it must be admitted here that this was purely on account of less exploration in the area concerned. Therefore, not much information regarding megalithic culture of eastern Vidarbha was hitherto known. Present author undertook systematic explorations in this region particularly upper Wainganga valley and brought to light new megalithic sites. These newly found megaliths of the upper Wainganga valley are typologically different from rest of the Vidarbha. In light of aforesaid revelations, a study of typological features of the megaliths of upper Wainganga valley becomes an imperative exercise.This paper discusses in detail, the nature, type and variations in inner architecture of megaliths documented during the course of explorations and also draw from results of excavations at Malli as well since the latter is the only excavated megalithic site in upper Wainganga valley. Besides analytical insights from the author based upon the results of study, comparative study of megaliths of upper Wainganga valley and rest of the Vidarbha is also dealt with in this article in order to offer fruitful correlations
Megalithic Studies in Nagpur Division: Contributions of Colonial Period
Heritage: Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies in Archaeology , 2015
The region of Vidarbha, eastern Maharashtra, India has a very rich archaeological legacy from prehistoric to medieval period. The British officials who were stationed near or around Nagpur Division endeavored to look into the archaeological problems of the region. The megalithic monuments attracted the British the most. In this pursuit they explored, excavated, documented many sites and analyzed the data. This paper attempts to overview these efforts and contributions (especially megalithic studies) made by British officials and others during colonial times in the Nagpur province/Vidarbha region. In the absence of any organized archaeological body/institute, the contribution of these individuals, irrespective of their official holdings, is immense as far as Vidarbha Megalithic studies are concerned.
Archaeological remains of Buddhism at Early Historic Vidarbha (Maharashtra
Vidarbha is very rich in archaeological remains. From prehistory to modern period all type of historical evidences found in this region. Vidarbha is famous for his megalithic culture in all over the world. Accept megalithic culture Vidarbha region having Buddhist remains also. This paper focus on Buddhist remains of Vidarbha. All type of evidences found in Vidarbha region like stupa, Vihara, sculpture, inscription and numismatic evidences. These evidences of early historic period have been studied in this paper.
Ornaments from Early Iron Age Megalithic Culture of Vidarbha
2017
Ornaments and ornamentation forms an important aspect of human cultural attributes. However, these aspects have not been thoroughly investigated to project its importance within the material remains during the early Iron Age megalithic period especially from excavation remains from Vidarbha. The association of the ornaments with the deceased needs to be properly understood to highlight the social persona within the community as well as the technological advancement projected during the period. Ornaments were not only restricted to the human beings. The horse ornaments and other ornaments made out of copper, gold and semiprecious stone ornaments found from these burials has been analyzed to bring out the importance of the ornaments during this period and also in relation to the other artifacts found.