Friday, 8 December 2017

THE ENORMOUS MEGALITHIC SITE OF CHOKAHATU in Jharkhand

Lat: 23 deg 10' North
Long: 85 deg 56' East

Chokahatu. 
In the austric Mundaric language (one of the most abundantly spoken languages in primitive India and currently  is the speech of hundreds and thousands of tribals in the east and the central of contemporary India) it means 'the land of mourning'.

Chokahatu, situated about 80 kms south-east of the capital city of Ranchi is primarily a megalithic burial ground of the Mundas. Such burial grounds are known as sasandiri, harsali, haragarhi etc in the local Mundaric languages and can be found in almost all the tribal villages in and around Ranchi.

The sepulchral slabs


The burial slabs. The capstone in the foreground has a porthole

But Chokahatu is different. 
It is enormous in size. It is so huge that you can get lost amidst the sea of stones.

Chokahatu has only two menhirs and the rest are all burial slabs and dolmens. The dolmens are also known as sasandiri to the Oraons, Hos, Mundas and the Asurs.The site was discovered by one T.F.Pepe way back in the late 19th century (Mr.Pepe like Mr.Babington has the rarest disticntion of discovering numerous megaliths in India in the 19th century). Pepe reported the site to Col.Dalton who visited here in 1871.




Dalton was bewildered at the enormity of the site.He wrote in the "Journal of Asiatic Society of Bengal" Vol.42 in 1872 that his helpers counted the sepulchral slabs to be around 8000 and the area was more than a whopping 7 acres. He believed that there must be an understratum of these graves and this site must be about two thousand years old. The villagers however disagreed with me , they affirmed the site is of about 14 acres and must be more than two thousand year of age.
Well that's for the archaeologists to decide, if  they ever arrive here.


Self-portrait alongside a sasandiri dolmen with a large capstone.

People since very olden times must have been bringing the bones of the deceased for a burial in this sacred land from all over the country, the villagers told me. Even today people come from far off places for burial in this holy land. They build dolmens on the dead of their relatives,carting the slabs on vehicles. 


...another sasandiri dolmen




A few moderns day commemorative sasandiri dolmens.


Chokahatu is one of the oldest historical remains of our country and it still being used in an uninterrupted manner since hoary antiquity is also an illustration of its living heritage status. It therefore demands a World Heritage position. 

Chokahatu, such a significant site, lingers in utter negligence like any other megalithic site in India, but then megaliths being tribal heritages are not worthy of respect, here.
I must admit yours is a fantastic website.One learns so much from it.

I am just surprised to learn about Chokahatu. Why cannot Jharkhand capitalise on such sites for international tourism?
S.K.Satpathy
As an interested but total amateur, your pictures as well as the appended information has left me gasping. I am amazed at the indifference of our ASI to what could well be a facet of our heritage that we must be virtually ignorant of. My cousin has just completed her M.A in archaeology from C.U. I have advised her to immediately visit my FB home page and look up your posts. Subhashis, it strikes me that given the slumber of our very own ASI, why should you not take up the matter with the U.N? That our country did at all have any pre-aryan culture is mind boggling. Mind you, this is NOT my view at all! If most of these are burial grounds though, some still in use, it appears that there may be a problem with archaeological "digs," perhaps. CARRY ON THE GOOD WORK, MATE! Our tribals, so long exploited, so long deprived deserve their moment in the sun!
Kalyan
Your reaction is very inspiring. You speak of the indifference of ASI, just go through another post which I had put in last night,read through it and tears are bound to stand on your eyes. Visit my site : www.megaliths-india.blogspot.com and click on the tab "ROLA MEGALITHS AT THE VERGE OF DESTRUCTION". and then react.

Good you have advised your cousin to visit my blog. In fact megaliths in Indian archaeology are not that much venerated perhaps for their aboriginal origin. Neither do they nurture much regard for tribals. Indian Histroy for them is only Hinduism/Brahamnism/Aryanism and Islam . For them tribals had nothing to contribute to our country.

Strangely when i have archaeologists archaeoastronomners, scholars or even simple tourists from UK, France, Russia, Germany visiting my discovered megalithic sites in Jharkhand or elsewhere , I find stark difference between them and us. Their understanding of India is far profound.

When I had visited Chokahatu firstly in 2003/2004, none of the archaeological depts could provide me with any info.In the village I was told I was the only Indian in many years to have visited the site; the site was usually visited by anthropologists from UK and France and Germany.

I am trying to get a World heritage Status for Chokahatu for being not only one of the the largest burial sites but for the practice of the continued living tradition of megalithism since over 2000 years.

Thank you Kalyan for your inspiring words. Take your time and go through my site. Let me brag a bit : Kalyan this is the only blog on megaliths in India.
Among the many things these tell us, they also tell us, our tribals if anything, were not dumb as some make it sound.
They related to nature well. Tried to understand nature and live with nature.
Astronomy and these megaliths are just, one part of this knowledge.

These enhance our respect for the simple native people of this world.
regds
hari dk
first of all i must congrats you for your amazing field work in the contest of Megalithic culture of India.
me too interested in Megalithic culture and doing my PhD on the same subject. currently i am working at Dept of Archaeology Maharashtra and planing to excavate some of the Megalithic burial located in Vidarbha region.
i want to visit the sites you discovered.
have u discovered any megalithic burial site in southern MP or Chhatisgarh area?
i would like to tell you that plese search habitation of these ancient people............

another
Virag Ji,

Thank you for liking my work and I presume you have also looked into other post of my website.

I am very happy to learn that you are working on the burials of Vidharbha. I have some news of a few discovered megaliths of Vidharbha in the " megalithic activities section" of my site. Does that figure your site as well?
You can visit my sites, but please inform me in advance so that I could arrange myself accordingly.

So far as megaliths of Chattisgarh is concerned please visit :http://www.megalithindia.in/2011/11/profile-of-human-head-in-form-of.html

Regards

Subhashis das

So far as
Subhashis I have posted a page about Chokahatu along with your petition. Many thanks for allowing us to use some photos

http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=33786

Kind Regards,
Andy
you are doing phenomenal job.its realy appriciable.since i belong to munda tribe as far as i know my father once told me that all the surname of munda like hurad(kachchap),sandil,nag,etc..are the original surnames.hindus(aryans)have taken this from ours.since aryans invade india they were like landless or can say religionless.so they enter our land and adopt tribal cultures and traditions and populated here.because of this adaptation many festivals and cultures of hindus are similar to tribal's cultures and festivals.for eg:chat puja,baisakhi,pongal,etc etc..aryans not only inhabited tribal lands but also adopted the religion and made their own religion called "HINDU" and also named India as hindustan.
Another interesting fact about jharkhand tribe is,the people are here the real followers or can say the heir of lord Ram and lord Shiva cause their living style and weapons are similar to these lords....:)
Good information. Jeyakumar ramasami



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MEGALITHIC ANIMAL SCULPTURES

Pic A. Bumpy rides the elephant while his mother, Bubu looks on..

     These are amazing creations of the erstwhile megalithic tribals of India. Why were they raised, it is difficult to assert ,  but there seem to be less doubts that these animal sculptures were once worshipped and these animals  must have been held in very high esteem in antiquity.

    Roaming in the woods I have been successful in discovering many stone structures as that of  elephant, buffalo, tortoise among numerous others. These animals must have been revered, so much so that the primitives even made their idols .

 In Hinduism, the elephant symbolizes knowledge which many a times is shown squashing the demon of ignorance. Ganesha, the son of Shiva-Parvati is a combination of an elephant head and a human body, venerated as a deity of good omen, protector from misfortunes and provides blessings to the devotee. The elephant named Airabat is also the vehicle of the archetype Aryan god Indra .In Buddhism elephants represent wisdom, patience and grace.
      The turtle in Hinduism is one of the 'avtaaras' of Lord Vishnu. The elephant is also a symbol in the Buddhist religion that represent physical and mental strength and responsibility. Elephants are also symbols of the Buddhas in their previous births. Elephants are shown in Buddhist stupas, monasteries to worship the Buddha. The horse, peacock and the lion too are found as symbols in Buddhism.

     Historically speaking  the elephant and the tortoise are tribal in origin as they are the totem or the killi of the tribes across India.    They were also the symbols of the now defunct fertility cult of the much primitive Mother Goddess religions in hoary antiquity.  Icons of the elephant and the turtle are still used during marriages among many communities in India, reminiscent of their initial tribal days .

  The nexus between  dogs and humans perhaps begun since time immemorial. To the tribals, dogs are their most trusted of friends. These animals can be seen accompanying the  adivasis every where from the market to even to their seasonal ritual hunts. In the various austric languages of the tribals, dogs are called barwa, seota, allaha and they are also their killi or their totem. On contrary, dogs are  despised in Hinduism  as they are considered to be lowly  animals. The buffalo is the vehicle of Yama, the God of death in Hinduism. It was also the most significant domestic animal of tribal India prior to her Aryanisation. These animals may also have astronomical/astrological implications as these megalithic stone structures could also be primitive astrological symbols. 

   The Sculptures:

  Such rock sculptures have been discovered across the world. These architectures have yet not been recognised by mainstream archaeology perhaps for the reason that this may cause chaos in the history of the evolution of humankind which they have so painstakingly created therefore they wish to stand by it ignoring this major source of the history of mankind's evolution branding them as natural formations.  

    The chief common characteristic of such sculpture across the globe is that the facial features are found to have been sculpted on one side only. The elephant (Pic A ) is oriented towards the due east, it may also be serving nuptial purposes in the deep past for the inhabitants of the vicinity.


Pic B.This disproportionate buffalo kneels towards the due west 

    

Pic C, Daria with the head of the left side of the head of the buffalo

The buffalo (Pic B & C) has been made with a disproportionate body but its head seem exceedingly life-like. The sculptor had taken utmost care of the finest details of the beast's head confirming the high quality of art prevalent in those times.The cheek bones of the buffalo have been made prominent and its lower jaw can even be slided out. The deep sunken eyes are positioned in the right place. Surprisingly only the left part of the beast has been sculpted, why, we have no clue. The  animal has been made to kneel  towards the due west as if displaying its obeisance to the setting sun.

     I have found few sherds of Painted Red and Black and Red pottery from near this buffalo suggesting that sepulchral rites too may have been associated with it.
    The hybrid dolmen (pic D & E) comprises a turtle's body and a lizard's head. The lizard which stares towards the due east has been sculpted with great care as it has prominent crests and a slit eye. Even this sculpture like the buffalo has  features only at one side i.e. on its right flank. The left side has been left blank.This monument is definitely a memorial and may  have  also been a temple to the erstwhile tribals of the region.


Pic D.The hybrid dolmen comprising a tortoise's shell and the a lizard's head


Pic E.The Lizard Head of the hybrid dolmen. Note the slit eyes and the crest. The head is oriented towards the due east.

     This dog head (pic G) in a village called Bhandra in Lohardagga points to another hill in the horizon. The structure could be a memorial of a dead domestic dog of a family or community or it may have been a memorial of an eminent person belonging to a tribe of the dog totem .
Pic F. The Dog head

Pic G.The turtle. Its head points towards the due North. 
   

  When I visited the sculpture I found that  it had the least semblance with  any elephant, on the contrary I found it to be a hybrid architecture comprising  of  a frog (perhaps)/squirrel and/or a buffalo. The locals averred that it is an elephant and her  trunk had broken off. I tried to find the trace of a broken trunk of which I found none.

 The huge megalithic architecture is actually a natural stone on the river having received human touches to give the form of the present sculpture.The beast (?) faces the Winter Solstice sunrise. On the Makar Sankranti days of 14th/15th Jan also regarded as the Uttarayan which is India's version of the Winter Solstice. Hundreds and thousands gather here as a fair or a  mela is held every year to celebrate the ingress of the sun into the Capricorn from Sagittarius. People take their holy dip in the sacred Damodar and the Hathia Pathaar is worshiped. 

The snap below (Pic H) is of the famed Hathia Pathhar or the Elephant stone on the sacred river Damodar in Phusro near Bokaro Steel City:
Pic H. The Hathia Pathaar

   Jharkhand and Bihar has a profusion of huge stones having names of Hathia Pathaar. This megalithic sculpture is one among such hundreds in the region. To my understanding Hathia here may not refer to elephants but to the constellation of Hathia  which arrives around October/November. This is the constellation which according to the farming communities bring the last rains and nourishment to the crops prior to the harvest. But why the Hathia Pathaar is associated to the Makar Sankranti is still an enigma.

More such sculptures:

A large animal head: either that of a bear or perhaps that a dog. credit Sadanandam Krishnakumar:









6 comments:


It is definitely haunting to know about such unknown sculptures here in HJharkhand. Thank you Subhashis ji for such a grand blog.
Ashok Verma
Thank you Ashok for your inspirational words. They do help me get going.
Subhashis Das
Who created these sculptures ? The elephant and the buffalo are wonderful. How can we go here?
Superb. Thank you for posting these photos and the descriptions.
Excellent stuff as usual, Subhashis! This throws up in my mind, another question... if even rudimentary carving was known to these people, why are their dolmens and megaliths so un-wrought and un-sculpted?.... Kalyan Biswas.
Good and quite a logical question...there can be no definite answers to that but only assumptions Kollan.

 It could be that:

 1) the rude dolmens are of an even earlier age.

 11)The sculptures if you look discreetly are not of proper proportions...but their heads and faces are....perhaps they were gradually learning the techniques of the art from the Bactrians,Achemaninans or Greek contacts in the west which has evidences in the Mauryan sculptures of much later days to come.

 111)These sculptures were being done by a separate tribe.

 But then you cannot beat them in the astronomical menhirs like the ones of Punkri Burwadih...oh boy that is what you call accuracy in science.
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THE ENIGMATIC STONE TRIANGLES IN MEGALITHS OF HAZARIBAGH



Hazaribagh is home to a fascinating array of megaliths; majority of which is the author's discovery. 
The monuments have although not yet been dated could very well go back to the Chalcolithic period. 

The author has found that the one aspect that makes Hazaribagh megalithic complexes stand different from rest of such sites in the country are the various sized stone triangles  within them. 

But what purpose did these triangles really serve that are found to have been implanted within the premises of the megalithic sites ? 
Were these stone triangles functioning as props of some rituals ? 
Triangles according to the pre-Aryan tantra is symbolical of the human genitals which suggests that their vertexes towards the sky is representative of the male phallus while the upturned triangle is representative of the female vulva.

All these megaliths are the author's study sites. Research has shown him that several triangles within them have been found by him to be oriented towards the major cardinal points and the sunrises of the Equinox and the Winter and the Summer Solstices and even towards towards significant hills in the landscape. Therefore a several of these triangles apart from being fertility icons may also have been performing as pointer stones.

Below I present a few of  such megaliths which house these stone triangles:



The Pacahi Baba megalith. 

This megalith is still worshipped. Note the site has one tiny triangle in the foreground and the other stone in the background has a triangular tip .


This larger pointer stone of the Chano megalithic site has a triangular tip that points towards the Kanhari Hill in the landscape.

The two triangles in Chano marked A & B and the larger pointer stone with triangular tip marked as C. The smallest triangle A points towards the Winter Solstice sunrise while the triangular tip of the largest stone C points towards the Kanhari Hill in the landscape.


LATI. The Lati megalithic burial has only one triangle amidst it--the one above. It points towards the Winter Solstice sunrise. 


This triangular stone in Birbir is aligned towards the Due East


The triangle inside the Birbir megaliths is aligned towards the Due East and on Equinox mornings the pointed tip of the triangle can be seen pointing towards the rising sun.

The Banadag Stone Circle above has two triangles in its center


The Purni Mandar megalithic burial too has a stone with triangular tip similar to that of Chano and the Pacahi Baba. The pointer indicates the Winter Solstice sunrise.


The triangle inside the Amanari megalithic burial site has close similarity with the triangle of Lati. 



This triangle is the largest stone of a megalithic site near the village of Rola. The triangle points towards the Summer Solstice sunrise.





It indeed is strange and it is rightly you have observed the presence of the triangles in the megaliths.
Alice
Sri. Das,
congrats on this very nice compilation.
You website is also well laid out.
While this effort is commendable, pls do not stop with this.
Bring it out as a book and explain therein as to why they shld be maintained and should not be destroyed.

otherwise mindless people will destroy these megalith sites.

a book will come in handy for other to maintain them in their respective locations.

You may visit our website www.bharathgyan.com to know of the range of work we are doing and the books that we have published on the knowledge of India.

Once again congrats on your work.
regds
Among the many things these tell us, they also tell us, our tribals if anything, were not dumb as some make it sound.
They related to nature well. Tried to understand nature and live with nature.
Astronomy and these megaliths are just, one part of this knowledge.

These enhance our respect for the simple native people of this world.
regds
hari dk
first .i would like to thanks to the gr8 scholar of scholars sir Subhashis Das...sir as i think stone triangles r something like a secret code or aparatus made by some extraterrestrial...when they were here.....i saw a episode of the ancient aliens and the secret code...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DTco5jatEM

may b it is something like that...thanks sir
A Big Hello to Subhashis Das

Congratulations on putting together this impressive web site about megaliths in India. As you know, I have been studying similar subjects in Britain, Ireland and across the Continent of Europe for some 30 years. I have recently edited a volume on the Archaeology of Earth Mother Sites and Sanctuaries through the Ages and produced several conference papers, for instance on triangular megaliths with cupmarks.
Great to hear from you Terence.
Thank you on the appreciation. It was also wonderful to hear of your editing of such a grand volume. I would really like to read a few papers on your research on the triangular megaliths and cupmarks. Is it available anywhere in the net which I could read ?

Have you seen my post on the cupmarks?

If not, this is the link : http://www.megalithindia.in/p/cupmarks-cupmarks-on-natural-rock-near.html#

As regards to the book it should be hopefully out by next year.

Love and regards
Hello Subhashis

The book referred to is out now, published by B.A.R. of Oxford. It is very expensive, but I could send extracts at a later date. When is yours being published--the one for which I wrote an article that you used as an introduction?

The symbolism of triangular stones and megaliths continues to amaze me. I found another in July that has a cupmark ground into its apex--it is in Sardinia. Terence
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THE TALL MENHIR OF DUNDWA

This giant of a menhir could be a boundary marker or a marker of an isolated burial of a person who may have died for unnatural reasons like...