Chronology of Vidarbha Megalithic Culture: An Appraisal Tilok Thakuria1 1. Department of History and Archaeology, North Eastern Hill University, Tura Campus, Chandmari, Meghalaya‐794002 (Email: [email protected]) Received: 05 August 2014; Accepted: 09 September 2014; Revised: 3 October 2014 Heritage: Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies in Archaeology 2 (2014): 651‐657 Abstract: The presence of Megalithic monuments in Vidarbha came to limelight for the first time in 1847. British officials deputed in the region recovered and excavated many of the Megalithic sites during the pre‐independent phase. Systematic and scientific research on Megalithic in the region was, however, initiated by S. B. Deo in 1960. It was his initiative that samples for 14C dates were collected and dated. Based on these obtained dates, Deo proposed a time bracket of 700‐800 BC for the Megalithic culture in the region. However, a re‐look into these dates and some other recent findings suggest that the beginning of the Megalithic culture in the region may go earlier than 700‐800 BC. The present paper tries to evaluate both the available absolute and relative dates and argue for a possibility of pushing back the date for the beginning of Megalithic culture in Vidarbha. Keywords: Megaliths, Neolithic, Vidarbha, Excavation, Exploration, Chronology, Absolute Date Introduction The Megalithic culture in India is known for the early use of iron besides construction of burial monuments. The culture was prevalent in almost all parts of India. The tradition of constructing burials and celebrating elaborate funeral rituals is still prevalent in some of parts of India, for example, Northeast India (Hutton 1929, Haimendrof 1943). In Maharashtra, the culture is mainly found spread in the eastern part of the state known as Vidarbha. Vidarbha consists of eleven eastern most districts of Maharashtra state, viz. Buldhana, Akola, Amaravati, Yavatmal, Wardha, Nagpur, Bhandara, Chandrapur, Godchiroli, Kholapur and Gondia. Majority of the sites, however, are located in the districts of Nagpur, Wardha and Chandrapur. In addition to Vidarbha, there are reports of architectural features resembling Megalithic burial in the north‐western portion of Maharashtra state (IAR 1968‐70:27‐29, Mane 1985). However, presence of such features outside the core region of Vidarbha should not be taken seriously as these have been reported on the basis of surface observations only. For instance, architectural features resembling a Megalithic burial were reported from Theur in Pune, which proved to be the architectural remains of a Chalcolithic culture ISSN 2347 – 5463 Heritage: Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies in Archaeology 2: 2014 after excavation (IAR ‐ 1969‐70: 27‐29). Therefore, one needs to be very careful in assigning any architectural remains to Megalithic culture just on the basis of similarities observed on the surface. Presence of Megalithic monuments in Vidarbha came to attention when Revered Stephen Hislop noticed and excavated one such monument at Takalghat in 1847 (Mohanty and Thakuria 2014). In the subsequent years, Hislop also dug ‘a few’ Megalithic burials at Junapani (Carnac 1879: 2‐3). He planned to excavate at Takalghat again in 1863 on the request of Mr. Temple, then commissioner of Nagpur. However, Hislop died crossing a nala while coming back from a field visit at Takalghat in September 1863 (Hunter 1964). Pottery and some notes on Takalghat were found in the pocket of his jacket when his dead body was found. His observations and notes on excavations could not come to light for his untimely death. After 20 years of Hislop’s discovery and excavation at Takalghat, Major G.G. Pearse excavated the site of Kamptee in 1867 and published the report of the same in 1869 (Pearse 1869). This was the first published report on excavation of Megalithic burials in Vidarbha. Although Major Pearse is often quoted as the first person to excavate Megalithic burials in Vidarbha in many of the historiographic writings, he was third in number after Hislop and Carnac. Carnac excavated Megalithic burials at Junapani few months before the excavation at Kamptee by Major Pearse in 1867. Carnac published the report in 1879 after many years of his excavation at Junapani (Carnac 1879). During sixties of the last century, Deo started investigation on Megalithic culture of the region. He conducted a series of excavations and explorations, which produced valuable information on typology, technology, material culture, subsistence pattern, settlement system, ecology and socio‐economic life of the Megalithic people of Vidarbha (Deo 1970, 1973a; Deo and Jamkhedkar 1982). Other agencies like Archaeological Survey of India; Department of Archaeology and Museum, Government of Maharashtra; Nagpur University, Nagpur and Deccan College, Pune also conducted a series of extensive systematic and scientific researches on the Megalithic culture in the region (Deglurkar and Lad 1992; Nath 2002; Mohanty 2003, IAR 1958‐59: 21, 1961‐62:32‐33 , 1977‐78: 39, 1979‐80: 58,1978‐79: 71, 1980‐81: 40, 1981‐ 82:51‐52, 1982‐83: 61‐62, 1983‐84: 57‐58, 1984‐85: 53‐54). Excavations and explorations conducted by above individuals and institutions resulted in finding and reporting of more than 100 Megalithic sites in Vidarbha (Thakuria 2010). However, habitation sites belonging to Megalithic culture is less in number compared to burial sites. Only 10 Megalithic habitation sites have been reported from the region so far. All of the habitation sites have been excavated. The chronology of Vidarbha Megalithic culture has been constructed on the basis of 14C dates available from a few excavated sites. It was actually Deo’s effort and initiative that produced first 14C dates for the Megalithic culture of Vidarbha. His work on Megalithic Vidarbha was inclusive and multi‐disciplinary. During the course of excavation at the site of Takalghat in 1969, he collected samples for 14C dates (Deo 652 Thakuria 2014: 651‐657 1970). This was the first time radiocarbon samples were collected from a Megalithic site in Vidarbha. Subsequently, he collected samples for 14C dates from the sites of Naikund, Bhgimohari and Khairwada also (Deo 1973b, 1973c, 1998). Based on the obtained dates from these sites, Deo proposed a time bracket of 700‐800 BC for the Megalithic culture in Vidarbha. However, it was Major Pearse who for the first time speculated on the chronology of Vidarbha Megaliths (Pearse 1869). He speculated a date of 1200 BC for the beginning of Megalithic culture in the region. He argued on two main points. First, he argued that Megalithic builders were neither Buddhist nor Hindus and, therefore, must have existed before the advent of Buddhism in the region (Pearse 1869: 215). In support of his argument, he gave the example of the site of Kamptee which did not reveal any material evidence related to either Buddhisim or Hinduism. The fact observed by Pearse a long time back still holds true. There is still no consolidated evidence to relate the Megalithic culture of Vidarbha either to Buddhism or Hinduism. There was discovery of a tripod of iron having motifs of fish, dear and bird from excavation at Mahurajhari (Mohanty 2005). This tripod though considered as ideo ‐technomic object does not reveal religious affiliation of Megalithic people to any religion (Mohanty and Thakuria 2014). Major Pearse’s second point of argument was related to the use of coins. According to him, Megalithic builders neither knew the use of coins nor were having any knowledge of writing and, therefore, must have existed before 330 BC (Pearse 1869:215). He considered 330 BC as it was the date believed for the beginning of coins and writing in India during his time. To strengthen his argument, he gave the reference of the term “Kershas”, which was mentioned by Manu. According to him, the Megalithic builders might have knowledge of coins if they were contemporary to Manu (Pearse 1869:215). Taking into account all these facts, Major Pearse suggested 1200 BC for the beginning of Megalithic culture in Vidarbha. Though his chronology was based on speculation, it still holds certain relevance. First, so far no coin has been recovered from any of the excavated Megalithic burials from any of the sites in Vidarbha. Though not from Megaliths, early coins have been reported from Vidarbha (Patil 1991; Gupta 1999). Second, there is no finding of script or writing from Vidarbha Megaliths except graffiti marks on potsherd. The early date of using script and coins in India can now safely be placed to 600 BC (Daraniyagala 1990, Gupta 2013). No finding of coins and script from Vidarbha Megaliths suggest that these were not part of their socio‐economic and socio‐ cultural behaviour. However, non‐availability of coins and script in Vidarbha Megaliths may also denote the beginning of Megalithic culture prior to coinage and Brhami script in India. So, what would be the date of the beginning of this culture in Vidarbha if Megalithic builders antedate 600 BC? Taking into consideration all the facts discussed above, it indeed looks realistic to believe Major Pearse speculated date for the beginning of Vidarbha Megalithic culture. A date at the end of end of second millennium BC or beginning of the first millennium 653 BC for the beginning of Megalithic culture in Vidarbha gets further strength if one re‐ considers the chronology of Kaundinyapur, located in Amaravati district, proposed by M.G. Dikshit. The cultural sequence at the site was divided into six periods. The earliest period was assigned to Megalithic culture based on recovered artefacts and other material remains identical to Megalithic culture (Dikshit 1968). Black and Red ware of South Indian Megalithic types and similar types of etched carnelian beads as found from the South Indian Megalithic sites inspired Dikshit to assign the lower most cultural assemblage as Megalithic. Dikshit (1968:28) wrote: “The dating of our Periods I will depend on the firm date for the Black and red ware.