Megalith vandalised

The ancient megalithic burial which is now vandalised.

    23 deg 59' 15.6" N    
85 deg 26' 16.4" E

 The megalithic burial was discovered by me some 15/16 years ago. But prior to talking about the monument itself let me describe the surroundings and other finds in and around the site. 

The engraved stones are assumed to be mortars, but I hold them be yoni stones.

I sit beside a few more of the engraved stones in the field

One of the many sacred Mahua trees. All of them have similar large holes on them. Note carefully a few engraved mortar/yoni stones can also be seen below the tree.

The burial is located in an open field between the Silwar and the Juljul Hills to its North and South respectively. The site is interspersed with Mahua (Madhuca Indica) trees and stones that are engraved in their middle which the archaeologists hold as mortars or grinding stones.

At one time there were about a hundred of such mortars but gradually their numbers receded as understandably the villagers were towing these stones away. 
It was difficult to fathom why so many mortars were here ? Strangely similar stones can be found in distant England and Ireland where these are labelled as Bullauns and water collected in the middle is believed to posses magical healing powers.

Examining these supposedly mortars I concluded that these were yoni or vulva stones used for some unknown ritualistic purpose in the past. 

The Hazaribagh Gazetteer of the 19th cent declared that Buddhist remains as idols and stupas were found from around the Silwar Hill. 

Sadly neither the exact location of such a find is known nor its present whereabouts. This locality seems to be a potential area for such a find where Tantric Buddhism was possibly being practiced. The numerous stone yonis in the open field lends credence to such an assumption.

One of the better looking yonis with truncated legs. This relic is now lost. (The poor quality of the photograph is regretted)

Secondly this was the region where Tantric Buddhism flourished.

Although Tantric Buddhism may have been practiced here but the stone yonis surely predate this period. 

Till a few years ago the engraved stones and the old Mahua  Trees in the field which comprise large holes were worshipped by old villagers as Khudarwaan Gosaiwn (translated in to English this term stands for engraved deities ) during the Asadia Puja in the Asad month of July. 

This worship was undoubtedly for agriculture and large produce, clearly evident that the veneration has it source in the yoni worship dating to the Neolithic era. In this period cracks, holes were revered as the yoni believed to be representation of the Mother Goddess, remains of the now defunct Fertility Cult. This field must have been a major cultic site of the Great Mother once in hoary times evident from the scattered yonis.

The vicinity within a radius of 2 kms is interspersed with ancient megalithic sites and also with a large cupule site of great antiquity. 

THE MEGALITHIC BURIAL

    

It was about 15/16 year ago in one of my field trips I stumbled upon this site comprising of the megalithic burial, the yoni stones and the sacred Mahua trees. 

The megalith makers in the past employed the already existing engraved stones in the field to construct the burial under discussion. This therefore confirms that the yonis are of earlier date than that of the burial. 
  

Note closely, the engraved mortar/yoni stones have been used to construct this monument.

Sadly in our last visit to the site we were shocked to see that the megalithic burial has been dug out and the yields have been taken away. The vandalism of the ancient monument made it impossible for us to know the type of burial it was.

The current photograph of the ancient megalithic burial after its destruction . What could be more sad ?

Jharkhand megaliths normally house pot burials but this burial gave an inkling that this may have had been different. We were also deprived of the  contents of the grave. We are now unable to confirm to what age this monument belong, Chalcolithic or Iron Age or was if from the historical era  ?

Pot-shards collected in-situ from the vandalised burial

A Point and a Side Scraper collected from inside the pit.

I collected the following from she spot:

Broken shards of Black, Red, Painted Red, Black and Red, Black on Red pottery and even two stone tools called Side Scraper and a Point.
What was also painful that the remaining engraved mortar/yoni stones had also been taken away.