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<< Our Photo Pages >> Rola. - Standing Stones in India

Submitted by Andy B on Thursday, 11 October 2012  Page Views: 7331

Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Rola.
Country: India Type: Standing Stones

Latitude: 23.992969N  Longitude: 85.431192E
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
3 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
2 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
4 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
4

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Rola.
Rola. submitted by Andy B : The present state of the Rola standing stones. The boundary wall and the houses have been recently built up in the close vicinity, obstructing the astronomical orientations. Sheer Government indifference towards megaliths and heritage. Image copyright Subhashis Das (Vote or comment on this photo)
Subhashis Das writes: Rola is stunning in many ways, a testimony that the megalith builders in India had a penchant towards astronomy, as well as making sites to be burials and memorials to the dead. The stones of Rola appear aligned to the sunrises and sets of both the Summer and the Winter Solstices.

Although the site has not been excavated, date can be inferred from the fact that as it is a Mundaric Sasandiri - a megalithic burial ground of the Mundas. In the local Mundaric languages such burial grounds are known as sasandiri, harsali, haragarhi etc and can be found in almost all the tribal villages in and around Ranchi. They are still built today, although they are a little different from this one. The Mundas themselves say they stopped making such burials like these thousands of years ago. Finds of black and red pottery in-situ from the surface nearby reveals that this site must have built in very archaic times.

Rola has triangular pointers like many of the Hazaribagh megaliths, this design being common to many megalithic sites in this area.

The triangular top of the stone appears to have been positioned to point towards 120 deg South of East which is the azimuth of the Winter Solstice at this latitude. As predicted, on the Winter Solstice morning of 21st Dec the the sun was seen rising towards the direction of the apex of the smallest trinagle of Rola. Even on the sunset on that day I found two stones to be aligned towards 300 deg North of West the azimuth of the sunset of Winter Soltice day. The sun was seen setting exactly on this line (view the pic).

Location: 23 deg 59'34.69" N, 85 deg 25' 52.29" E. This is an amazing site that I re-discovered this site in 2003/04. The burial slabs are quite a few but the Rola megaliths look so tiny and insignificant.

The time is ripe to change our notions towards these unfortunate stones and begin to regard and venerate them as sources of our country's prehistory, and even history.

To learn more of this site and others like it, visit my web site: www.megalithindia.in

Note: Building close to the Rola megaliths obstructs their astronomical function - they are under threat from further development
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Rola.
Rola. submitted by Andy B : Subhashis Das with the amazing megaliths of Rola Image copyright Subhashis Das (1 comment - Vote or comment on this photo)

Rola.
Rola. submitted by Andy B : Subhashis Das explains the orientations of the ancient stones in Rola to Mr V.S.Dubey, the Principal Adviser to the Governor of Jharkhand State. Mr.Pandey, the Commissioner of North Chotanagpur Div (in the checked shirt). Mr. Chaubey, the Deputy Commisioner of Hazaribagh district (in blue shirt) look on. Image copyright Subhashis Das (Vote or comment on this photo)

Rola.
Rola. submitted by Andy B : The sunset on the Winer Solstice day in Rola. These two stones seem to be aligned towards 300 deg North of West; the bearing of the Winter Solstice sunset. Image copyright Subhashis Das (8 comments - Vote or comment on this photo)

Rola.
Rola. submitted by Andy B : The small triangle in Rola appears to indicate the rising sun on Winter Solstice mornings Image copyright Subhashis Das (4 comments - Vote or comment on this photo)

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"Rola." | Login/Create an Account | 4 News and Comments
  
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Building close to the Rola megaliths - please help to save them by Andy B on Thursday, 11 October 2012
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Building close to the Rola megaliths obstructs their astronomical function - please help to save them from further degradation.

Subhashis Das writes: A boundary wall ha been build very close to the north side of Rola megaliths. As well as this, new buildings have also cropped up in the vicinity. As a consequence of this, the alignments of the stones in the complex towards major sunrises, sets and cardinal points which have elevated this crude megalithic burial site into a major calendar and an observatory built during primitive times has ceased to function as such.

Although the megaliths remains unscathed in its physical form (so far) the stones themselves have no government protection. Building so close to this primitive monument have become a threat to the megaliths.

Rola is a burial site of the tribal people of the area with many slabs of stones functioning as the covers of the burial which is known to the Austric tribes as Sasandiri. The site sacred to the the tribal people even a few years ago is a neglected temple today after their migration elsewhere.

Rola is one such site which needs to be seen to be believed. The megalithic complex demonstrates brilliant positioning of the stones within the megalithic complex. How the North-South and the East-West axis was once obtained within the megaliths by the positioning of the stones and how they were also made to intersect inside the site by the ancient megalithic astronomers is a feat to see.

The alignments towards the hills in the landscape are vividly demonstrated. The site is also comprised of stones oriented towards the sunrises and sets of the Summer and Winter Solstices. (see http://www.megalithindia.in/2011/12/winter-solstice-sunrise-in-rola.html ). But then most of these have become things of the past with the buildings mushroomed in the vicinity posing a great threat to its very existence..

The pointed menhir can be seen here positioned in alignment to the phallus in the middle and to the hill in the horizon

Rola has the potential to change the course of India's ancient history as it clearly revealed that observational astronomy and mathematics was known to the tribals (who built the megaliths) thousands of years prior to the Brahmin mathematicians and astronomers.

The pointed menhir is made to point towards the Kanhari Hill in the horizon
This is one of the saddest events of archaeology ; not only of India but of the world at large.

Rola was discovered by the author Subhashis Das in around 2002 and it still is one of his study sites.He has been successful in bringing the following governmental authorities to the megaliths in hope to have the primitive site preserved under governmental protection

a) Mr. Vinay Chaubey, the Deputy Commissioner of Hazaribagh on 2010
b) Mr. Pandey, The Commissioner, North Chotanagpur Division on 2010.
c) Mr. V.S.Dubey, Chief Secretary of Governor Jharkhand State on 2010.
d) Mr.Chauhan. Superintending Archaeologist Archaeological Survey of India, Ranchi Circle
e) Mr T.J.Vaidya, Superintednding Archaeologist Survey of India. Ranchi Circle.
f) Mr.Harendra Sinha, Dy Director Jharkhand State Archaeological Dept.Ranchi.
g) Mr.A.K.Sharma, Ex-Director State Arcaological Dept, Chattisgarh. Raipur.
g) Numerous other officials of the state, archaeological depts.

The site has also been visited by students of numerous schools, universities, scholars and tourists both from abroad and the country .

Almost all of them have expressed surprise to witness such a stunning primitive sciences at work in such a tiny and insignificant megalith, something which many had not known or seen earlier. The governmental officials had promised protection of the site.

But despite their promises the government as expected did

Read the rest of this post...
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Re: Forgotten Relics - India’s neglected megaliths reveal a fascinating history. by Anonymous on Tuesday, 13 March 2012
studing and geting refrances about lost habitat of area called kachch(KUTCH)Gujrat,western India,on tropic of cener line. foud so many sites of pre and past Megalithic era.welcome.dd(tuhiram)
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Re: Forgotten Relics - India’s neglected megaliths reveal a fascinating history. by bat400 on Thursday, 08 March 2012
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Would it be possible for a sketch to be uploaded, indicating the proposed alignments within this circle?
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Forgotten Relics - India’s neglected megaliths reveal a fascinating history. by Andy B on Monday, 27 February 2012
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Shubashis Das writes: From Kashmir to Kerala, from Itanagar to Gandhinagar, India’s countryside is strewn with the remains of enigmatic stone structures known to archaeologists as megaliths. Scores of these were constructed by prehistoric tribes prior to the Aryanisation of India, and they are still being raised today by some Adivasis – possible descendents of those tribes – who continue the tradition. These primitive monuments are an essential part of India’s prehistory and archaeological heritage, and yet they have been denied appropriate recognition.

Especially in Jharkhand and the states of the Northeast, many Adivasis continue to build megaliths as part of complex and varied rituals to commemorate their dead. Once the predominant inhabitants of India, the Mundas, Santhals, Hos, Oraons, Asurs and other proto-Australoid groups are now subjugated and impoverished peoples, and over the years many such groups have gone extinct.

However, their historic reign and range is substantiated by the megaliths, many dating back to the late Stone Age which they built across the entire expanse of India.

Read more at
http://www.himalmag.com/contact-us/5001-forgotten-relics.html

and see also
http://megaliths-india.blogspot.com/p/winter-solstice-and-set-in-megaliths-of.html
http://www.megalithicsites.co.uk/Rola.html
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