Megalith Culture in South India
• The megaliths are the graves encircled by big pieces of stone. They are found in all upland areas of the peninsula, but their concentration seems to be in Eastern Andhra and in Tamil Nadu.
• The people used various types of pottery, but black and red ware popular with them. • The practice of burying goods in the graves with the dead bodies was based on the belief that the dead would need all these in the next world.
• The Cholas, Pandyas and Cheras mentioned in Ashokan inscriptions were probably in the megalithic phase of material culture.
• The megalithic people in the Southern districts of Tamil Nadu had certain peculiar characteristics. They buried the skeletons of the dead inside urns made of red pottery in pits.
• The practice of urn-burial was different from that of list- burial or pit-burial surrounded by stone circles, which prevailed in the Krishna-Godavari valley.
• Although, the megalithic people produced paddy and ragi, apparently the area of cultivable land used by them was very limited, and generally they did not settle on the plains or in the low lands.
Megaliths, derivative of Greek terms, megas' and 'lithos' signifying huge stones, are the testimonials built of large stones. Archaeologists place the megalithic cul- tures from the Neolithic Age to the early historical period. Recent studies have shown that all monuments constructed of large stones do not come under the category of megaliths. Such archeological terms are used in limited terms denot- ing only to a particular class of monuments or structures, which are built of large stones and have some commemorative, ritualistic or funeral association unlike the hero stones or memorial stones. In general terms, megaliths refers to the burials made of large stones in graveyards away from the habitation area which are the earliest surviving man-made monuments.
Dating and Spread
Subsequently the megalithic culture overlay with the last phases of neolithic-chal- thic culture, and that the late phase of these cultures amalgamated with the historical epoch, archeo-historians and anthropologists believe that the time bracket of the megalithic cultures in south India may be placed between 1000 BCE and 100 cr. However, conferring to the frequency of archaeological discoveries, te period when megaliths were in their prime fashion between 600 BCE and 100 a The epicentre of the megalithic cultures in India was the Peninsular India, pre- adly south of Godavari. Nevertheless, large-stone erections of the usual megalith s have also been found from some places in north India, central India and western India. But since neither the archaeological site nor a reliable preliminary ground-searching of these monuments has so far been carried out, it would be challenging to say if and how far they are associated with the megaliths of the Dec- Additionally, the wide distribution of such stone-structures in the southern region of India suggests that it was essentially a south Indian feature, resulting in a variety within the underlying megalithic unity of common beginning.
The Iron Age Megalithic Culture of South India
The megalithic shrines are the emblem of the Iron Age in south India. It was a wide- spread Iron Age culture where the doles of the use of iron were fully gathered by the people. The information about the Iron Age in south India comes from the diggings of the megalithic burials. Iron objects have been discovered in all the megalithic sites right from Jonatan near Nagpur in Vidarbha section (central India) down to Adichanallur in Tamil Nadu in the far south. Though usage of Iron brought drastic and developmental change in south India, the most remarkable was the elaborate method of arranging the dead-a characteristic feature of the south Indian regions. Unlike laying the dead with four or five pots in a pit in the house, now the dead were oncealed in a separate place-a graveyard away from the house. The remnants of the dead were collected perhaps after exposing the body for some time and then the bones were placed underground in particularly designed stone box called a cis- tem. These were intricate structures and must have necessitated an amount of plan- ning and cooperation among the community and the existence of masons and other craftsmen capable of manufacturing the required size of stones, large and small. It is probable that like Egyptian cellars, these megaliths must have been planned and kept ready before the death of an individual.
Categories of the Megaliths
Archeological records and current dig records in diverse locations of south In- dia, the megaliths can be categorized under different heads derived from their outstanding features. These are: Rock Cut Caves, Hood Stones and Hat Stones/ Cap Stones, Menhirs, Dolmenoid Cists, Cairn Circles, Stone Circles, Pit Burials and Barrows. The Rock cut caves are scooped out on soft laterite, as found in the southern part of the west coast. They occur in the Cochin and Malabar regions of Kerala. On the east coast of south India, they are present in Mamallapuram (Ma- habalipuram) near Madras Connected with the rock cut but of a simpler form are the cover stones or Kadakallu. These consists of a dome-shaped dressed laterite mass which cover the underground circular pit cut into a natural rock and provided with a stairway
In some cases, the cover stone gives place to a boater stone or toppikkal, which is a slab resting on three or four quadrilateral boulders, forming a square base and a trimmed top on which rests the toppikkal or the hat stone. Usually, it contains a burial urn covered with a convex or cupola shaped pottery lid or a stone slab and contains skeletal remains, small pots and sometimes ashes. Such shrines are usually found in Cochin and Malabar regions up to the Noyil river valley in Tamil Nadu.
Menhirs are monolithic columns planted vertically into the ground. These may be small or gigantic in height, though common heights range between 4 and 7 ft. These are fundamentally dedicatory stone columns set up at or near a committal spot. These memoirs are mentioned in ancient Tamil literature asnadukal. In some cases, the memoirs are not planted in ground but rest on the original ground propped up with a mass of rubble as at Maski. These befall in different regions of Kerala and Bellary, Raichur and Gulbarga regions of Karnataka in large numbers,
Dolmenoid cists consists of square or rectangular box-like graves built of sever- al orthostats and capstones. They occur at large number at Sanur near Chingleput and many other sites in this region. The cists built of dressed slabs or the slab cists are the normal type of cists, occurring all over south India. The Cairn circles are one the most popular type of megalithic monuments occurring all over south India in association with other types.
They consist of a heap of stone debris bounded within a circle of boulders. Colliery burials have been found at many sites in the Chingleput (Tamil Nadu), Chitradurga and Gulbarga (Karnataka) districts. Stone Circles are the most commonly encountered megalithic monuments in India. They reflect the features of various forms of megalith- ic cenotaphs, such as the Kudakallu, Topikkal, different types of pit burials, menhirs, dolemenoid cists of different types, cairns, etc. The barrows or earthen mounds mark off the underground burials. They may be either a circular or a round burrow, oblong or oval on plan, a long barrow. They have or may not have the surrounding stone circles or ditches. Such monuments have been experiential in the Hassan district of Karnataka.
All of these entombments have yielded a variety of objects. The grave furni- ture consisted of a large variety of pottery; weapons and apparatuses mostly of iron but often of stone or copper; ornaments, like beads of terracotta, semi-pre- cious stones, gold or copper, shell, etc., threaded into necklaces or rarely the ear or nose ornaments, armlets or bracelets and tiaras; often food as indicated by the presence of paddy husk and chaff, and some other cereals; skeletal remains of animals, sometimes complete in these crypts.
Subsistence Pattern
Archeologists presume that agropastoral culture thrived around the megalithic period of south India, with other artistries coming to the fore, and all credibly interspersed in a reciprocal relationship with each other. The megalith makers were accountable for the introduction of the advance systems of irrigation driven agriculture namely the 'tank-irrigation' in south India bringing a revolutionary change in the agricultural system. The plinths are unvaryingly interspersed on the slopes of the hills or on elevated ground, which are not suitable for irrigation as they do not encroach upon arable lands. But, it seems unlikely that the megalithic builders were the people who introduced 'tank-irrigation' in south India. The cisterns might have been natural ponds that were maintained for sustenance and livelihood.
Paddy husks and rarely paddy grains, reported from numerous excavated graves from all over the region suggest that rice was served as their staple food. Ace as attested by the Sangam literature, is the staple food of the people of south India since very early periods and remains so till today. The evidence indicates the cultivation of other crops too, such as ragi, wheat, kodo millet, barley, Hyacinth bean, horse gram, black gram, green gram, common pea, Pigeon pea, grass pea, jobs tears, Indian jujube, goosefoot (fat-hen), lentil, cotton, etc., in the megalithic period of south India.
Copious such observances and archeological finding of megalithic locations have produced indication of domestication of animals, like sheep, goat, pig, horse, dog, buffalo, ass, fowl and other diversity of cattle. The cattle (including buffa- lo) prevails over other domesticated species at these locations. Unvaryingly, in all these locations nearly 60% fauna has been discovered, preserved either naturally or buried by owners. The occurrence of the remains of domesticated pig and fowl suggests pig rearing and poultry farming on a small scale at many of the sites.
Hunting has always been predominantly a heavy occupation as it naturally increased the food supply. The equipment for hunting, like arrowheads, spears and javelins have been found in large quanti- The discovery of fossils of wild fauna, like wild boar, hyena, Barking deer, chousingha, sambar, chital, nilgai, Peacock, leopard, tiger, cheetah, sloth bear, wild hog, pea fowl, jungle fowl, water fowl, etc., from different sites in- dicate that these species were hunted and per- ceptibly shaped part of their dietary system.
There are terracotta evidences net sinkers from Takalghat and fish-hooks from Khapa and Tangal besides the actual fossils of fish from Yeleswaram reflect that fishing was also practiced by the megalithic folk. Fish-hooks found from various sites is suggestive of fishing as another important occupation. The industrial activities, such as smithereens, carpentry, pottery making, lapidary, basketry and stone cutting formed other economic activities of megalithic society. Metal smiths dominated the ancient megalithic locations and metallurgy, especially the production of objects of metals like iron, copper, gold, silver, etc., must have been patronized.
The substantiation of cultural development can be proved by the existence of crucibles, smelting-furnaces and incidence of mate- rial, like iron ore pieces, iron slag, copper slag and traces of primeval gold mines, copper or the mineral resources at or near these sites is suggestive of miner sand metal smiths. There is ample indication of the utilization of metal tools, such as axes, ploughshares, hoes, sick- les, spades, etc.
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