Remote sensing imagery has led to the discovery of two megalith burial sites in India which date back 3,500 years.

Spread in an area of about 6-7 km, the megaliths can be of much historical importance and have potential of being converted into a heritage site. The megaliths were located using “quick bird” remote sensing satellite launched in 2007. MRSAC directorVinod Bothale tells that the satellite has a resolution of 60 cm and hence gives good imageries. The megaliths of Junapani like all burial sites in Nagpur and adjoining districts of Gadchiroli, Chandrapur and Bhandara districts in Vidarbha are made of basalt rocks. Basalt being black the megaliths appears as small black rings on the satellite image. The Junapani burial site has about 100-125 megaliths. “This is one of the most unique uses of remote sensing imagery,” Bothale said.

Deotale says since this is one of the lesser known but big burial site it has potential of being converted into a tourist spot. Since now it lies in Gorewada project, the forest and archaeological departments could preserve the place as a heritage site. She however admits that she is not sure whether the forest department is aware of the site and its importance. Unlike other known burial sites this place has no excavation history.

The other site located by her at Mahurjari has 7 burial sites with circular formations have earlier been excavated by Nagpur University’s archaeology department. It found copper vessels, pottery and human skeleton.

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Inscriptions dating back to the Pandya and Nayak periods have been found in an ancient temple in southern India.

The inscriptions date back to the period of Sundara Pandiyan (1212-1239), Jatavarman Kulasekara Pandiyan-II (1237AD)-to Veerapandiyan (1253-74) and Nayak period (1782AD) said a team of epigraphists who recently found the etchings on the tank bund of the ancient temple in Vellanchar village. The Inscriptions also mention about a piece of land gifted to the temple by merchants,farmers and temple employees. Raja Mohammed,President, Pudukottai Historical Cultural Research Centre, said the two inscriptions on Jatavarman Kulasekara Pandiyan II who ruled only for two years,throws light on how erudite members of his court and cabinet were. Jatavarnam Kulasekara Pandiyan II ruled the area along with some other Pandiya rulers as per the inscriptions. The name of the temple,according to the inscription, was “Kulothunga Choliswaram”-and the presiding deity Kulothunga Choliswara Mudaya Nayanar(Shiva).

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Flooding at Jognakhera where 5,000-year-old coppy smelting furnaces have been found has been submerged under nearly 10 feet of water.

The archaeological site and the village of Jognakhera is just 1km from the SYL breach. Residents of the area were oblivious of the historical significance of their neighbourhood until some months ago when a team from the state department of archaeology landed up and started digging. But it was not declared a protected site by the government.

The excavated site has been badly mauled by the floods and the ancient furnaces have also been damaged severely. However, the antiquities unearthed from the excavation have been recovered by excavators.

The furnaces look like huge saucers bearing copper slag. A huge number of Harappan pot shreds were also been unearthed from the site, dating the furnaces.

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I didn’t know this, but apparently there is an ancient tribe of people in India known as the Jarawa, who had no contact with outsiders for 55,000 years until 1998. Now “human safaris” to observe them are threatening the group with extinction.

Under Indian laws designed to protect ancient tribal groups susceptible to outside influence and disease, photographing or coming into contact with the Jarawa is illegal.

“The Jarawa people lived successfully on their island without contact with outsiders for probably about 55,000 years, until 1998,” Survival’s director Stephen Corry said in a statement.

“They call themselves the Ang, which means human being, yet they are being ogled at like animals in a game reserve.”

Four of the eight travel companies identified by Survival have since removed references to Jarawa tours on their websites, but four have persisted despite government warnings, it said.

The group said the trips put the tribe, thought to have been among the first people to migrate successfully from Africa to Asia, “at serious risk of disease.”

The Jarawa number about 320 and live a nomadic existence in the forests. They are thought to have little or no immunity to common illnesses.

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Neglect has caused damage over time to the murals of the Veetrirundha Perumal temple in India, which dates back to 850 A.D. Now the temple is set to be restored.

From the ground below, it is not visible. As you clamber up what looks like a tall mound, the villagers caution you. For the entire place is overgrown with dense bushes and there are depressions, quite deep, hidden by vegetation. When you pause, the skeletal remains of what looks a temple vimana suddenly looms up. The tall structure, built entirely of bricks, looks forlorn, blanketed by vegetation all round. As one gingerly steps inside, bats fly out and the stench is overpowering. Someone cautions about the presence of snakes. Darkness prevails in the sanctum where there is no deity. As a villager focuses his torch-light on the inner walls, traces of layers of what must have been wonderful murals, painted centuries ago, come into view. While the innermost layer has murals of the Pallava period datable to circa 850 A.D., above it is the layer of beautiful frescoes of the Raja Raja Chola (regnal years 985 to 1014 A.D.). Obscuring these Chola frescoes is the topmost layer of murals of circa 1520 A.D. of Krishnadeva Raya of the Vijayanagara period.

This is Veetrirundha Perumal temple (of Vishnu in a seated pose) at Veppathur village, near Tiruvidaimaruthur, about 35 km from Thanjavur. What is extraordinary about the temple is that it is the only temple in south India that has murals of three dynasties – the Pallava, the Chola and the Vijayanagara. But the heartbreaking reality is that like the sanctum and the vimana (the tower above the sanctum) which are totally in ruins, these murals exist today only in flakes, which are falling off too. The good news is that the temple itself will be restored to its original grandeur, thanks to the bold initiative of REACH Foundation, led by T. Satyamurthy, one of its founders, who was former Superintending Archaeologist, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

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