MENHIR

MENHIR

Sub: History

Sec: Art and Culture

Context: The Mudumal megalithic menhirs in Telangana’s Narayanpet district are set to become the second UNESCO World Heritage Site in the state. They are among six Indian sites expected to be added to the tentative UNESCO list in 2025.

What are Menhirs?

• A menhir is a large, upright stone, often tapered at the top, sculpted and placed by humans. The largest known menhir, the Grand Menhir Brisé in Brittany, France, originally stood 20.6 meters tall. The term “menhir” comes from Brittonic words meaning “long stone.” They have been known in popular culture due to the character Obelix in the Asterix comic series.

Purpose and History:

• Menhirs were originally linked to the Beaker culture of the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age (around 4800–3800 BP). But the oldest European menhirs are today dated to as early as 7,000 BP.
• The Mudumal menhirs, dated between 3500 and 4000 BP, are the oldest known in India. They can be standalone or part of larger prehistoric megalithic sites. Their exact purpose remains debated, but they were likely used for ceremonial functions, as grave markers, or for astronomical observations.

Significance of the Mudumal Site:

• UNESCO describes the Mudumal menhirs as a “megalithic astronomical observatory.” Some menhirs align with the sunrise and sunset during solstices, suggesting their role in tracking celestial events. Over time, they also became part of local folklore, with some menhirs being worshipped as deities.
• Over time, the Mudumal menhirs became closely associated with local legend, with “one particular menhir being worshipped as Goddess Yellamma”.

Why Do They Deserve UNESCO Recognition?

• Menhirs provide insight into the ingenuity of early humans. Their construction required advanced knowledge of physics and astronomy. The effort to build them indicates their cultural and religious significance, helping researchers understand ancient civilizations that left no written records.

Megaliths in India

• Megaliths in India are dated before 3000 BC, with recent findings dated back to 5000 BC in southern India.
• Megaliths are spread across the Indian subcontinent, though the bulk of them are found in peninsular India, concentrated in the states of Maharashtra (mainly in Vidarbha), Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
• There is also a broad time evolution with the megaliths in central India and the upper Indus valley where the oldest megaliths are found, while those in the east are of much later date.
• A large fraction of these is assumed to be associated with burial or post burial rituals, including memorials for those whose remains may or may not be available.
• The case-example is that of Brahmagiri, which was excavated in 1975 and helped establish the culture sequence in south Indian prehistory.
• However, there is another distinct class of megaliths that do not seem to be associated with burials.
• Even today, a living megalithic culture endures among some tribes such as the Gonds of central India and the Khasis of Meghalaya.

Megalithic Culture in India

• As megalithic societies were preliterate, the racial or ethnic origins of the megalithic people are thus difficult to pin down.
• The discovery of a stone axe with what seemed to be inscriptions in the Harappan script from a burial chamber in Tamil Nadu did bring up the tantalizing possibility of cultural contact between Harappans and the megalithic people.
• Some historians believe that Megaliths were not built for commoners. They signify the emergence of a ruling class or elite who presided over a surplus economy.
• Megalithic people carried out agricultural activity in both the rabi and kharif seasons.
• A large variety of grains such as rice, wheat, kodo millet, barley lentil, black gram, horse gram, common pea, pigeon pea and Indian jujube have been recovered from habitations.
• The very idea of burying the dead along with burial goods indicates strong belief in life after death and possibly rebirth among megalithic people.
• Banded agate beads with eye patterns have been recovered from megalithic sites.
• These were generally used by them as protection against evil spirits, a belief that survives to this day in India in the form of nazar battus such as amulets or strings of limes and chillies.

Types of Megalith structures

• Menhir: Menhir is the name used in Western Europe for a single upright stone erected in prehistoric times; sometimes called a “standing stone”.
• Monolith: Any single standing stone erected in prehistoric times. Sometimes synonymous with “megalith” and “menhir”; for later periods, the word monolith is more likely to be used to describe single stones.
• Capstone style: Single megaliths placed horizontally, often over burial chambers, without the use of support stones.
• Stone circles: In most languages, stone circles are called “cromlechs” (a word in the Welch language); the word “cromlech” is sometimes used with that meaning in English.
• Dolmen: A Dolmen is a megalithic form created by placing a large capstone on two or more support stones creating a chamber below, sometimes closed in on one or more sides. Often used as a tomb or burial chamber.
• Cist: Cist is a small stone-built coffin-like box or ossuary used to hold the bodies of the dead. Burials are megalithic forms very similar to dolmens in structure. These types of burials were completely underground. There were single- and multiple-chambered cists.