MEGALITHS OF BANJHA

by
Subhashis Das

Fig 1. Megaliths of Banjha

Banjha is a sepulchral megalithic site which lies concealed within a grove or sacred trees called Sarna (http://tribalworship.blogspot.in/). The site is located in the Maoist infested area between  two villages of katkamsandi and Itkhori in the Chatra district of Jharkhand. You will miss it as it is not visible from the road but the Sarna is and the megaliths are within it.

Fig 2. THIS IS THE SACRED GROVE OR SARNA WITHIN WHICH LIES THE MEGALITHIC SITE

Inside there are about thousands of burial/memorial stones lying scattered in all directions. Some stand straight, some fallen and some are inclined. It is difficult to deduce how exactly they were originally positioned. 

Look at Fig 3…here is a single row of stones in which the menhirs are inclined towards opposite directions; rather they are made to point towards the east and the west while the row has a North South orientation. Such arrangements can be seen among many megaliths around here (http://www.megalithindia.in/2012/02/megaliths-of-chatra.html ). It can be perhaps be said with a certain amount of confirmation that many menhirs have been planted with a deliberate tilt.

FIG 3. THE NORTH SOUTH ROW WITH MENHIR PLACED AT OPPOSITE DIRECTION; I.E. TOWRDS EAST AND WEST.

The site also comprises megaliths of the Dravidian speaking Oraon tribes. Their megaliths which are a combination of a dolmen with a flat centre stone and adjacent to it a menhir is made to stand, are different from the others.

FIG 4. THE KUNDRUN BABA. Note the vermilion marks, this is the stone that is worshipped as the Kudrun Baba.

Inside the site is a stone which is worshipped as the “Kudrun Baba” and the priest belongs to the iron smelting primitive Asur tribe.

FIG 5. THE MEGALITHS.

The site could be very old as megaliths in Chatra  have been found to belong to Chalcolithic period.

FIG 6. ANOTHER SIDE OF THE MEGALITHS.

©Subhahsis Das