THE NARTIANG MEGALITHS, MEGHALAYA.

Shillong a pretty city of Meghalaya state in Northeast India is assumed to be the Scotland of the east. 

The Nartiang Megalithic site. Photo credit : http://www.rikynjai.com/nartiang.html

65 kms from it is the summer capital of the Jaintia kings, Nartiang. The town is well known for its weekly bazaar and the annual February Festival and bordering this colourful market place is a stunning megalithic site comprising of fascinating megaliths. Structurally these are menhirs, cromlechs and dolmenoid cists.

The tallest stone is about 27 feet high and 7 feet wide which is believed to have been erected by one U Mar Phalyngki, a lieutenant of a Jaintia king to mark his victory in a battle. Other monoliths were erected by U Luh Lyngskor Lamare and various other clans of the Nartiang village 1500 and 1835 AD.

The dolmens are called Moukanthai and the menhirs Moushinrang.

Few of the monuments are here from the prehistoric times. Many dolmens resemble the Mundaric sasandiris of Jharkhand. The Natiang megalithic site is regarded as a monument of National importance.

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Celebrating the Vernal Equinox 2013. Punkri Burwadih

©Subhashis Das

Crowds began gathering from about 5.30 A.M. at the megaliths of Punkri Burwadih to view the Equinox sunrise today. We however were one of the earlest arrivals this time. By 'we' I mean my wife Bubu, son Prantik, my child hood friend Dr.Sajal Mukherjee and his wife  Tanushri.

I ofcourse had guests from Kolkata who arrived here to witness the Equinox sunrise; Prof Tarun Tapas Mukherji and his senior, the Head of the English Dept of Calcutta University, Dr.Tirtho Prasad Mukherji. 

Earlier Alok, I and a few others had marked in the site with lime-dust for the crowd to understand the ancients alignments better and also to make them aware from where the sunrise was once viewed (hence should now be witnessed).

(LEFT CLICK THE PICS FOR A BIGGER PICTURE)

Marking with lime-dust before the equinox day for the attending crowd to perceive the ancient alignments in the site  better and even mark the spot of witnessing the sunrise through the V that was once created by the primitive megalith makers.

20th March, Vernal Equinox morning. 5.45 AM. The sunrise was to occur at 5.53 AM but for the hills in the eastern horizon it would rise a few minutes after 6. The eastern sky was painting itself in myriad hues, meaning the sun was about to rise. Impatience was slowly seeping in among the crowd as they awaited anxiously for the sun to rise.

The crowd await with bated breath for the sun to arise.

Among many stones in the megalithic complex, two menhirs can be seen positioned adjacent to each other facing the mid-winter sunrise in such a manner that a V notch is created. The Punkri Burwadih megaliths is a 

The sky changes colour...as the sun is about to rise

As there is still time for the sun I squeeze in to explain the functioning of the observatory of Punkri Burwadih to the attending crowd.

fine example of the ancients' extraordinary knowledge of the skies and of how they positioned the stones with such precision that on Equinox mornings standing at a fixed point on the North-South axis of the site the 

...and lo... here is the slice of the golden orb...

The beauty hypnotises the attending crowd for a while and then the cameras click...

sun can be seen  rising exactly through the V of the menhirs from behind the curvilinear hills in the landscape. Such was the stunning science of the primitives; attained by them by observing the transits of the solar orb.

At around 6.03 AM when the the slice of the orange sun appeared behind the hills exactly through the V as expected, a mesmerized hush descended on the gathering. The crowd was indeed stunned for a while watching the spectacular sunrise.

The Punkri Burwadih Equinox sunrise is not only about beauty but is also about the celebration of the ancients' wisdom of sciences that are long gone but still live among us in such megaliths...

Sajal who visited the sunrise for the first time, remarked, "...this indeed was my experience of a lifetime."

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DID INDIA AND BRITAIN HAVE A CONTACT IN THE DEEP PAST ?

by  Subhashis Das.

Ancient India and Britain did have a contact with each other in the hoary antiquity. 

Many would regard this claim to be preposterous but proofs of such contacts are in abundance in the form of many similar and near similar rituals, names and ofcourse the megaliths...

Several megalithic structures in these countries are so strikingly similar that to the beholder it may seem that these megaliths and their appendages must have been created by the same set of people. 
And their presumption may not be altogether wrong as these similar structures must have resulted from a contact with each other and nothing else.

The few pictures below which reveal these striking similarities  will coerce you to rethink on what you really know about our countries's antiquity...

The pictures below reveal the stunning similarities of the Holed Stones of  Britain and India:

Punkri Burwadih

Kenidjack

                                                       
                                                   

Kenidjack

Punkri Burwadih

Below are a few pics of a similar looking megalithic architecture both of Wales and India:            

Pathalgaddha, India

Wales. (©Adam Stanford)

                                             
                                                                                 

                                                                     

                                                                                                                                    

Purni Mandar

Pembrokeshire, Wales (© The Heritage Trust)

The photographs below are of possible game boards done in megaliths/stones in India, Britain and even in Italy...see the striking similarity:

Italy

Llanfairfechan, Wales

                                        

Punkri Burwadih, India

                                             

The similarities in the above  wouldn't have developed at free will but must have stemmed as a fall out of a contact in the foggy past.   

Did ancient Indians travel to England or did they walk down to India in the hoary times travelling astronomical distances ?

The migratory tradition among many Mundaric tribes in India do speak of their wandering in various lands  prior to their entry into India. One must remember many of these tribes are still megalithic.

As it is only the tribals in India who raise megaliths and seeing the resemblances of these monuments chances are that it were these people who were in contact with the far flung Isles.

                                 

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THE PACAHI BABA MEGALITHS

by
Subhashis Das

Long: 85.34 deg East
Lat: 23.99 deg North.

THE MEGALITH.

This is a megalithic site in the periphery of my hometown, Hazaribagh and  thankfully the site has received protection from the villagers as they revere it as their Pacahi Baba. 

"Pacahi" as per Asko Parpola is a Dravidian term suggesting both the ripening of the produce and/or even the yellowish colour symbolic of the ripening of paddy, therefore "Pacahi Baba" is the harvest deity. The worship of the megalith as a deity is surely a very recent activity which should date back to a century or two and has nothing to do with the original maker of the monument.

The original makers of the megalith, possibly the proto austric Mundari tribals have long since left the land leaving behind their megaliths.

The entire complex is enclosed with a brick boundary on her three sides with the opening on the eastern side which is the entrance to this temple. The site has a tamarind tree grown near to the western wall of the temple below which is a three feet tall menhir with a pointed peak. This stone is identical to the tall reclined pointer stone of Rola (Chano) and is smeared with an orange coloured circular blot which perhaps is symbolic of the rising sun and is the deity of the temple.

THE TINY TRIANGLE IN THE FOREGROUND AND THE DEITY MENHIR AT THE BACK

A small triangle barely a few inches high peeps out of the earth pointing to the sky above. Triangles are typical to the region of Hazaribagh, found nowhere else. Why has this small stone been implanted here rather what purpose does this small stone serve, we may perhaps never know. 

Nevertheless, standing here one can see that he is right "on" the alignmental path between the Kanhari Hill about half a kilometer away to the left and the Bawanwey Hill about 2 kms away to the right of the triangle. 

THE BURIAL STONE IN THE FOREGROUND

THE TALLEST MENHIR. THIS STONE ALONG WITH THE DEITY MENHIR IS ORIENTED TOWARDS THE MID-WINTER SUNRISE.

The tallest menhir is about a four feet tall and is placed in alignment with the deity menhir and the tiny triangle to the Recumbent Mother Goddess figure of the Zulzul Hill at about 160 degrees SE.

The decumbent stone in the foreground is the possible cover of the burial.

The megalith faces the Winter Solstice sunrise, the unusuality of menhirs in the region.

©Subhahsis Das     

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