History mains

1) A) Megalithic era sarcophagus unearthed in kazhikode, kerala.

# these are the earliest surviving man-made monuments we know of—are called
megaliths
#Megaliths were constructed either as burial sites or commemorative (non-
sepulchral) memorials
# In India, archaeologists trace the majority of the megaliths to the Iron Age
(1500 BC to 500 BC), though some sites precede the Iron Age, extending up to
2000 BC
#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.
# around 2,200 megalithic sites can be found in peninsular India itself, most of
them unexcavated. Even today, a living megalithic culture endures among some
tribes such as the Gonds of central India and the Khasis of Meghalaya.
B) IS THERE ANY CONNECTION BETWEEN HARAPPA AND MEGALITH
PEOPLE IN TAMIL NADU?
# 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.
#This confirms that the Neolithic people of Tamil Nadu shared the same
language family as the Harappan group, which can only be Dravidian.
The discovery provides the first evidence that the Neolithic people of the
Tamil country spoke a Dravidian language.”
# HOWEVER THESE CLAIMS HAVE BEEN SUMMARILY REJECTED-
These were accidental scratch marks which resembled the Indus script,
He says megalithism can be given credit for the rise of the political
economy typical to settled communities. “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, showing that the
subcontinent has displayed remarkable gastronomic continuity over
three millennia.
C)BUT WHAT ABOUT CONTINUITY IN BELIEF SYSTEMS?
the very idea of burying the dead along with burial goods indicates
strong belief in life after death and possibly rebirth among megalithic
people. “In some instances, we have seen teeth being cut off from the
body and buried with the remains for use in the next life,”

The respect accorded to the buried individual ensured that the grave and
the goods contained within were not subjected to vandalism and theft.
Paddy husk has been found in burial sites, further proof of the
megalithic peoples’ commitment towards ensuring their dead a
comfortable afterlife. They also believed in some idea of a soul.

Significantly, Roman coins have been found in some megalithic burials

in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. “Finding of coins from megalithic burial has
chronological significance of their [megalithic people’s] continuation till
the early historic period and interaction of trade,”

megalithic culture finds several references in ancient Tamil Sangam

literature. For instance, menhirs are referred to as nadukal. Ancient
Sangam texts lay out, in detail, a step-by-step procedure for laying a
memorial stone or nadukal in honour of a fallen hero

The range of iron artefacts recovered indicate that the megalithic people
practised a wide range of occupations and included carpenters, cobblers,
bamboo craftsmen, lapidaries engaged in gemstone work, blacksmiths,
coppersmiths and goldsmiths, proof of complex social organization.

It is no doubt that the construction and worship of stupas have evolved

from the cult of the dead,”

Interestingly, the popular Indian belief in the evil eye—buri nazar in

Hindi—may be a legacy of the megalithic age. 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.
 D)BRW culture was contemporaneous with the Painted Grey Ware
culture present in the Ganga valley (1300-600 BC), a proto-urban
culture associated with Hastinapur of the Mahabharata by noted
archaeologist B.B. Lal. Painted Grey Ware was contemporaneous with
and succeeded by the Northern Black Polished Ware culture associated
with the Mahajanapada period (600-300 BC), a more developed urban
society stretching from Bengal to Peshawar. The Mahajanapadas
consisted of the sixteen city republics of Magadha, Chedi, Gandhara and
other familiar names from the Mahabharata.

2) Cave paintings and dwelling in india was as much a legacy of pre-historic time in ancient
india
 “caves connected to mythodology- 20-01-2017( caves in trans-himalayas)
 http://www.wondermondo.com/Best/As/IndMedCavePaint.htm
 Check whether ccrt has some material on it

3) ON A DIFFERENT NOTE, IT WAS SAID IN RSTV DOCUMENTRY THAT FATEHPUR

SIKRI IS CLASSIC EXAMPLE OF A CITY WHICH
FAILED BECAUSE IT DIDN’T HAS ACCESS TO
WATER.
4)