KHUNTI
Three tall stones
stand mutely in here forming a triangle on the ground in the field adjacent to an ancient Mundaric megalithic burial ground.
The three erect standing stones are of 52", 94" and 90" height and there is also a much smaller stone that lie fallen on the
agricultural grounds. These stones resemble to the ones of Chaibasa and it could be that these were creations of the Hos;
evidence of the fact that the Hos were here before moving down south.
The
alignments of the menhirs are beautiful. One can spot the hills in the remote distance on a clear day to which these megaliths
stands aligned.
It
is difficult to unravel the mystery of the positioning of these menhirs as to why they are here because if they were raised
for burial purposes then why these stones have been refused admission inside the Hargarhi in the neighbourhood ? Is it because
there was hostility between the Hos and the Mundas or was the purpose different and not sepulchral at all?
The
mystery prevails and I love that.
PURNI MANDAR
This site is situated within dense sal and mahua woods and can be reached by crossing a beautiful
rivulet; Mohaniya which flows inside the thick forest. The spot is a delightful mix of virgin natural beauty and quixotic
primitiveness.
This is an amazingly big burial site which I discovered in 2007. The megaliths here are spread
in fragments in about a km of an area. The megaliths of this area are made in different designs signifying perhaps their erecting
by different tribes at different times. One complex here has a few triangular stones (The stone triangles are a speciality
of Hazaribag megaliths).
One other location in here has about 200 standing stones of which many has fallen, the tallest
one stands to a height of 14 feet! This site is worshipped by the Ganjus as their Mandar, thereby prefixing Purni (old) to
it. This old temple or ‘Purni Mandar’ has lent its name to the village which is cluster of a few huts.
Here I have found remains of Red, Black and Red and Black pottery which advocates the theory that
the site could be around 3000 years of age! Another striking feature of this large sacred site is that the site is still in
use by the Mundas. They still raise their sasandiris and birdiris .
This means that this site is still in use since over 3000 years!
PUNKREE BURWADIH
Punkree
Burwadih is magic, so is the locale.
The
site was discovered by Bulu Imam in the late 80s. It had taken me more than six years and uncountable visits to the site to
resolve the hidden truth of the most startling megaliths of them all. The satisfaction of such a research work is awesome
and more so because the hard work is finally paying off as today Pun Burw has become the most popular megalithic site of India.
PB is frequently covered by TV channels and newspapers and is regularly visited by countless tourists and scholars both domestic
and from abroad.
It
was five years ago that I discovered that PB was more than just a dumb burial it was a prehistoric observatory. I learnt this
form the deliberate positioning of the stones that the primitive megalithic astronomers had been observing the daily shifting
of the sun by viewing the summer Solstical and the Equinoctial sunrises through the V of the menhirs.
Today
Punkree Burwadih is possibly the only megalith in the country where on the lines of Stonehenge (UK) the beholder can view
the stunning mid summer sunrise and even that of the Equinoxes through the megaliths. Hundreds gather here on the Equinox
morning to watch the celestial occurrence.
The
megalithic temple is placed on a mound. Two menhirs here are placed so accurately that a “V” form is obtained
and it is through this V the sunrises can be witnessed. There is also a stone circle of recumbent stones and in its centre
a phallic stone has been positioned.
Perhaps
the most publicised megalithic site of India, PB is the queen of all the megaliths.
The
locale here is breath-taking; the surrounding hills enhance the splendour of the megaliths and the tourist is spellbound in
the natural ambience.
One
can find that each stone here is placed in meticulous preciseness in alignment with each other and to the prominent peaks
of the encircling hills. The site has stones which are profusely cupmarked and there are formats of village games etched on
many of the stones, surely done by the latter day village children. However one of the menhirs has a small recumbent human
shape engraved on it.
Today
I have found that apart from that of the equinoxes and the solstices the sunrises can be viewed every morning through the
V of the megaliths by sliding along an unseen trail indicated by a North South positioned stone.
This
site apart from being a burial was also being used as an observatory of the sun and even as a solar calendar by the obsolete
megalithic astronomers cum priests or priestesses. There is more to this site which yet needs to be discovered.
About
a km away aligned towards the south east of this temple and to a major Jugra mountain peak is a cairn made of soil and broken
pieces of rock.
Archaeological
Survey of India during one of their visits
to PB on 2006 discovered an altar a 100 metre from the megaliths where people in the
early days gathered for meetings.
The
locality is strewn with iron slags, black, black and red and red slipped potteries. I had even found a few microliths as well.
Today
due to the proposed coal mining by NTPC in and around PB the megaliths face a threat of obliteration. Sacred Sites International USA have declared Punkree Burwadih along with the Banadag
megaliths as the world’s second most endangered sacred sites. Visit www.sacred-sites.org .
However
Mr.R.B.Pathak the former GM had promised me that they would provide protection to the site and he has gone on record in the
process.
Today
the snaps of the PB megaliths are featured in their mining journal “Khanan” and even in their 2007 New Year card.
