MEGALITHS OF CHATRA

Subhashis Das

 (Click left to enlarge the images below):

                             

Stone Circle Giddhaur

Jitendras Tewary has discovered many megaliths in the region

More photographs of Megaliths of Chatra are at the end of the text:

The megaliths of Chatra like other megalithic burials of Jharkhand too reveal the pot burial mode of entombment into which ashes and bones of the dead are inserted and thereafter buried on the sacred ground and over which a megalith is raised. 

Megaliths of Chatra or more specifically speaking megaliths of Pathalgadda are typical to the region. The name of the village Pathalgadda is a Hindi word for megaliths. When the proto austroloid tribals with their austric speech had begun to move away from here leaving behind their megaliths the Hindi speaking folks who walked into the region were indeed surprised to find so many standing stones in the area.

They are in thousands...look any where...go any where; megaliths are everywhere. I have never seen a place quite like this...all this was conveyed to me by one young fellow in his late twenties, Jitendra Tewary. Jitendra who is a correspondent of a Hindi daily and who also owns a studio, has discovered many megaliths around the region. 

The area is ringed with some spectacular hills in the landscape as; Puraniya, Likhlahi, Dasi and Lamboiya et al.

The megaliths are solely burial and memorial stones. These can be found jumbled up at single places suggestive of the fact that they were the respective "Jangarhas", "Hargarhis", or "Sasandiris" of the adivasi villages where the adivasi themselves created these burials were once created in the deep past.
My prolonged study of the megaliths of Chatra has revealed to me that the positioning of the stones within a few megalithic sites in the district of Chatra as Katiya Murwey, Bayen and Obra displays stunning astronomy and geometry.
I have dealt the application of these sciences in the construction of the above mentioned ancient megalithic complexes in the following books authored by me:

1. UNKNOWN CIVILIZATION OF PREHISTORIC INDIA. Kaveri Books, New Delhi. 2014.

2. THE ARCHAEOASTRONOMY OF A FEW MEGALITHIC SITES OF JHARKHAND. Niyogi Books. New Delhi. 2018.

Most of the sites I saw were damaged by non tribal villagers scrounging for treasure from below the stones slabs, or the stones were towed away by them to serve as washing stones by the well or to function as drain covers (Fig 6).

The followings are a few photographs of megaliths of Chatra:

(Click left on the photographs to expand them)

Fig 1. A menhir in a ruined megalithic site in Rohmar.

Fig 2. Menhirs in Angarha

Fig 3. The opposite facing tilted stones are inclined towards East and West

 Fig 4. Tall menhirs placed resting inclined on  small menhirs

Fig 5. Trees such as Banyan, Peepal or Mahua are a common and a rare aspect specialty of Chatra megaliths.

Fig 6. Megalithic sites ruined in the process of digging the burials for buried treasure.

Fig 7. Singhani

Fig 8. Obra.

Fig 9. This ancient ruined menhir is worshipped as Bhainsasur by non  tribal dalits of a village. Photo credit: Jitendra Tewary

Fig 10. Megalithic burial inside a sacred grove of the  tribals

Fig 11. An ancient cairn or mound burial of soil and stones

Fig 12. Few modern day sasandiri megalithic burials

Fig 13. A cairn/mound burial created by grits of stones.

Fig 14. A stone circle with tree inside the burial site.

Fig 15. An attractive menhir.

Fig 16. Jitendra beside a large menhir.

Fig 17. Working at an astronomical megalithic site in Chatra district.

Fig 18. This astronomical megalithic site is aligned to the sunrises and sets of the Summer and Winter Solstices

Fig 19. Burial urns with human bones

Fig 20. One of the most stunning archaeoastronomical megalithic sites.

Fig 21. Jitendra and I stand in a ruined ancient megalithic site

Fig 22. This wonderful archaeoastronomical cum burial site is oriented towards the sunrises and sets of the Summer and Winter Solstices