MEGALITHS, ANCIENT TEMPLES AND SARASVATI CIVILIZATION CONTINUUM *** Jai Maharaj posts
and/or www.mantra.com/jai
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Megaliths, ancient temples and Sarasvati civilization continuum
http://sites.google.com/site/kalyan97/megaliths
Updated
Malhar, iron smelter, 18th cent. BCE
The updated webpage provides an overview of megaliths of Bharat and
perspectives on Bronze age iron in Bharat.
The so-called gap in history between post-Indus valley (ca. 1900 BCE)
and historical periods (6th cent. BCE) is apparently bridged. The
early iron assemblages of Bhagawanpura and Dadheri evidence this
bridged gap. See notes at:
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/17836531/megalithiciron
What were once categorized as megalithic sites [e.g. Kanmer (Kutch),
Farmana (near Rakhi Garhi)], have now been recognised as Sarasvati
civilization sites with the discoveries of metal artefacts and
objects with Indus script.
The discovery of bronze ratha, bronze sculptures of typical Indus
script animals and of a round seal containing only one pictograph:
the rim of a narrow-neck jar (the most frequently occurring Indus
script sign) at Daimabad, dated to ca. 1400 BCE have extended the
civilization impact area south of the Vindhyas to the banks of
Pravara river in Maharashtra.
The typical megaliths of Kanmer are found in the length and breadth
of Bharat in scores of megalithic sites, most of which are also
temple sites. Together with dolmens and mehirs, most of these
megalithic sites have been recognized as iron age sites with
discoveries of iron artefacts.
The discovery of iron smelters in Ganga basin
http://antiquity.ac.uk/projgall/tewari/tewari.pdf
(Malhar, Lohardewa, Raja-nal-ki-tila) by Rakesh Tiwari point to the
dating of bronze age iron to ca. 18th cent. BCE and iron age
continued into the historical periods in this basin.
The archaeological team of DK Chakrabarti and RN Singh of Univ. of
Cambridge have located over 100 archaeological sites near Rakhigarhi
(the largest site of the civilization excavated so far). There are
larger sites in Bhatinda, Gurnikalan (ca. 200 ha.) which need to be
explored.
Together with the exploration of over 1800 archaeological sites on
Sarasvati River Basin, it will also be necessary to excavate selected
Megalithic sites to unearth the continuity of Sarasvati civilization
beyond Daimabad in the regions south of the Vindhyas.
Megaliths are a veneration of ancestors of the civilization. So are
the stupas (dagobas) found in Sarasvati civilization area and in many
other parts of Bharat and regions north-west of Bharat.
It is not a mere coincidence that the word kole.l means both a smithy
and a temple in Kota and Toda languages. The artisans who worked with
metals also invented the temples as places to venerate the ancestors
and adarsha purusha. The techniques of ligatures used on Indus script
and Indus age sculptures continue in the shilpa of utsava beras and
also divinities depicted with multiple arms carrying weapons and
other cultural artefacts.
All these sites become, together with water-bodies endowed with
sacredness, tirthasthanas. At the tirthasthanas (as in Pehoa,
Prthudaka on the banks of River Sarasvati in Haryana, near
Kurukshetra), pitr-s, ancestors are venerated by the offerings of
tarpanam and pinda pradaanam. If Gaya on Ganga is pitr-gaya,
Sarasvati has maatr-gaya in tirthasthana such as Siddhapura
(Gujarat).
The legacy of stone-cutters [sangataraasu (Te.); sang 'stone' (K.)]
who could create a rock-cut reservoir continue into rock-cut caves
such as those of Udayagiri and other megalithic cave/rock-art sites.
Pillars similar to the polished stone pillars created in Dholavira
are found in many temples and shivalingas of many megalithic sites.
The image of Varaha and Mahishasura mardhini become a pan-bharatiya
hindu metaphor.
The blending of adhyaatma with the sculptural tradition is unique in
Hindu civilization, a veritable reverberation of dharma in its many
ethical facets and facets of cultural expression as in yoga, aasanas,
namaste, wearing of sindhu, veneration of shiva with perpetual
dripping of water in abhishekam evoking the water-giver doing tapasya
sitting on the summit of Mt. Kailash and yielding 10 of the greatest
rivers of the world from Manasarovar glacier nearby. The celebration
of divinity in every phenomena, in men, in women, in mountains, in
waters rendering them all sacred makes the bharatabhumi itself
sacred, a geographical manifestation of bharatamaataa. The world-view
of Bharatiya immersed in dharma expands and merges secular,
aadhyatmika and mundane life into a seamless web, eka neeDham (a
web).
A vivid expression of the continuum is in the continued use of Indus
script glyphs on early punch-marked (pace sign list of Theobald, 342
symbols
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/12434184/Indus-script-glyphs-on-coins
and cast coins of Bharat from the mints of Gandhara ([now] Afghanistan) to
the mints of Karur (Tamil Nadu)
Sarasvati heritage is a challenge to archaeologists, geologists, art
historians to help unravel the continuum of Hindu civilization and
culture which lives on, as Sarasvati flows on.
A beginning can be made by revisiting megaliths and identifying sites
for further exploration to define the cultural continuum of Hindu
civilization.
S. Kalyanaraman
End of forwarded message from S. Kalyanaraman
Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti
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