INTRODUCTION:

The area of Chhota Nagpur lies on the eastern part of India. The eastern part of India covers the various states like west Bengal, Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Bihar. On the north and eastern side Gangetic plains are situated and on the south side Mahanadi basin. Chhattisgarh lies on the south side of Chhota Napur region and flows almost in all parts of the states.The name Chhattisgarh is derived from the 36 ancient forts in the area.¹Chhattisgarh is on the south – east of Madhya Pradesh. The longitude and latitude of Chhattisgarh is 17°46ʹ N 24°5ʹand 80°15ʹE and 84°20ʹ.

Geographically the total area of Chhattisgarh is 135191sq. Mahanadi Rivers is the main river of Chhattisgarh, this river leads to the survival of the human beings and wildlife. Chhattisgarh is surrounded by Uttar Pradesh on the north, Jharkhand on the north – east and Orissa on the south – east. Andhra Pradesh lie on the south of Chhattisgarh, on the south – west Maharashtra and on the north – west side it is surrounded by Madhya Pradesh. The central part is very fertile whereas the northern and southern parts are hilly areas. The highest point of the hill in Chhattisgarh is known as “Gaurlata”.² Chhattisgarh is one of most popular state for minerals in India. Historically and culturally Chhattisgarh has its own identity. Chhattisgarh is also very in the field tourism. Chhattisgarh is the state which is very rich in all field like religious aspects, industrialization and environmental. The tribal people of Chhattisgarh have a unique lifestyle.

Chhattisgarh consists of 27 districts. Raipur is the capital of Chhattisgarh. Jashpur district is one of the districts among the districts of Chhattisgarh. Jashpur is located on the north – eastern part of Chhattisgarh. Jashpur is the bordering area of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha are the adjoining areas of the districts. The latitude of Jashpur region is 22°54ʹNand 84° 09ʹ E and longitude is 22° 90ʹNand 84° 15ʹE. The total geographical area of Jashpur region is 6701sq. km. Jashpur region is divided into two halves, the part of northern side is known as the “Upper Ghat” and the southern side is known as “Nichghat”. The upper ghat consist the areas like LoraghatKastura, Narayanpur, Bagicha and extending to the bordering area of Surguja district. This is also known as the pat region .The upper ghat consists of dense forest which has numerous wild animals. It consists of reserve forest. The nichghat is a flat area, but also there are many high mountains and forest, which leads to the survival of the mankind and wildlife. There are eight blocks in Jashpur district namely, Bagicha, Duldula, Farsabahar and Jaspur, Kansabel, Kunkuri, Manora and Pathalgaon. Jashpur district is generally rural type of area. The population is basically involved in agriculture.

Jashpur is recognizedas Pat region, this pat region gives us the evidence of the prehistoric tribal people, who lived there for longer duration.ᶾ Jashpurdistrict, is the region which consist the huge tribal settlement. The tribal society is characterized as the community of people are usually construct a homogeneous group speaking a similar language, asserting a common ancestry, they live in a particular geographical area, apart from science and technology and have a social structure based on kinship.⁴The word ‘aboriginals’ is used for the ‘scheduled tribe’. All the scheduled tribes are kept in the category of aboriginals.⁵ Different types of tribes found in Jashpur region like Agaria tribe, Oraon tribe, Gond tribe, Kharia tribe and Munda tribes etc. Starting from the prehistoric time there is the great contribution of tribal communities in the field of art, tradition, cultural life. The tribal communities have kept these traditions from generation to generation in their rituals, folk songs, folk dance and art. Unfortunately the history of tribes is not described in any of the text, Puranas or narrations. And as a result this history of the tribals is in the oral form. But are evidences which could be seen all over the area scattered around which tells the history of the tribal society that how they developed from the past to present. SC. Roy describes about the Munda tribe and Kolarian tribes that the lived in the mountain ranges of Aravali and Vindhiyan, and after sometimes they made their settlement in the Gangetic plains.⁶The Munda tribe followed their culture from mountains to plains.According to R.C Mazumdar, the Mundas, Oraon, Gonds etc. migrated from the mountains towards the Gangetic plains, they spread all over. And it is said that they were obsessed by the Aryans.⁷It is necessary to explore the sites and excavate the sites so that our tribal society could be identified as unique communities, who have contributed a lot in the construction of the history, from the human evolution till the present scenario. There are many interesting culture of tribal people like their folk songs, folk dance, their art making of various artistic materials, rituals, iron smeltingand megalithic practices. Burying the dead ones is of the ancient practices of the tribal community which had been followed from the ancient time till today. Death is the state when a person has no contact with the living world. No feeling and no emotion with the dear ones. But the living world is always greatly attached with the dead ones. The people who are alive never forget their dead ones. And they have respect for their ancestors. “Death”always had been a subject of curiosity. Everyone wants to know that what happened after death and why the people make megaliths on the grave. The Neanderthal people were the first to bury their dead ones. There are various reasons for placing stone on the grave of the dead ones. In prehistoric period there were many wild animals (carnivorous), who took out the dead body for eating them, therefore for the safety of the dead body they placed the stone on the grave. Second reason behind it was that placed stone as the memorial stone on the grave. According to the tribal community they also place the stone on the grave of that person who had great achievement on his or her life. The tribal community has two different graveyards for two categories of people. First category consists of those people who had natural death and have great achievements. And second graveyard consists of those people who had unnatural death and the death at small age. There are two types of megalithic in the tribal society. Frist one consists body inside it and the other one consist of only the mud of the grave. If the person dies in any other place the mud of his or her grave is brought to its native place stone is placed in his or her memory. Megalithic practices are done ritualistically. There are many rituals done during this ceremony and it is very expensive one. There are many artifacts found as the associated material with the megaliths like black and red ware, iron tools and weapons.⁸whereas in present era the tribal people keep all the belongings of the dead people inside and outside the grave. There are many megalithic sites scattered all over India. The northern Chhattisgarh region is also very important for the megalithic sites. Chhattisgarh consists of mainly Menhir, Crain circles, boulder type megaliths and stone seats. The reported megalithic sites of Chhattisgarh are Raipur, Durg, Bastar and Jashpur, and megalithic practices are in living tradition.⁹Dhanora is one of the very important megalithic site in Chhattisgarh which consists of many megalithic stone, located about 80kms from Raipur.¹⁰“Agaria” is the tribe found in the Durg district their main occupation is iron smelting. One of the most important megalithic sites is Karkabhat which located in Durg district previously, which consisted of about 3500 to 4000 megalithic burials.¹¹ Jashpur region one among the various districts of Chhattisgarh is very rich or megalithic sites. There are many sites found scattered here on the land Jashpur region they are namely Ketaar, Bangurkela, Thuthiaamba, Aara, Hetaklata, Ichkela, Situnga, Sakardega, kiuodih, Hethdarn (Jaimarga), Tigra, Raunipat. The first megalithic site of northern region is located in the village known as Ketaar. The village Ketaar is lies 30kms away from district headquarter. Geographically Ketaar is very rich for its natural sources. It consists of mountain and forests. Stones are easily available in this region, which is beneficial for the tribal communities to build megalithic stone. There are many tribes found in this region but the majority is of Oraon tribes. This megalithic site is belongs to people of Oraon tribe. This megalithic site of Oraon tribe is situated beside the main road on the ground. The area of this megalithic site is about half acre. This megalithic site consists of stone seats and Menhir. There are about 60 rectangular stone lying on the ground. The measurements of dolmen are length 5.5 ft. and breadth is 2.5 ft. approximately (5.5 × 2.5). There are about 30 Menhirs stones measuring 2.5 feet average height. There are two Menhirs standing erect on the northern side. The measurement of the two Menhirs is 5.5 feet. Both the Menhirs stone are facing each other (the stone are placed parallel to each other). The two stone are place east and west. The stone (Menhir) which is placed on the east side is the standing on the western side is pointed on the top. These two stone have been placed for the special purpose by the Oraon tribe. The Oraon tribe believed that the two stone(Menhir) were presented as the entrance gate of the graveyard. They believed that in ancient time their ancestors entered the grave through this gate. The concept of gate in Oraon tribe is very exciting feature of this megalithic site. But the megalithic practice is not in the living tradition.

The next megalithic site is Bungurkela. This village is located in the Duldula block. The major tribe found here the Gond tribe. There are two megalithic sites situated in this village. Both the megalithic sites belong to the Gond tribe. The first site is of the special ones how had great achievement in their life time and had natural dead but the other site is of those person who have unnatural death like the pregnant women, small children, the person how died with the leprosy disease and any accidental death. This is the boulder type megalith. The size of the grave is about 5ft. First the person is buried and then on the top of the grave the small stone are kept covering the grave. The people of Gond tribe believed that the wild animals eat the dead body so from ancient time used to keep the boulders on the top of the grave and on the head side of the dead one big stone is placed as the memorial stone.In these megalithic sites there are about 70 to 80 graves.

The other megalithic sites are located in Thuthiamba, Aara, Hataklata, Ichkela, Sakardega, Hethdarn, Tigra and Raunipat. Thuthiamba village is located on the bordering area of Chhattisgarh state. Thuthiamba is geographically prosperousand the village is surrounded by mountain from all side. There is Girma river flows region of Thutiamba village. The megalithic site of Thuthiamba is related to the Oraon tribe. There stone seats present in this site are shapeless. There are about 10 in number. Aara is of the village in Jashpur region. There is one megalithic site in village named Aara. This megalithic site belongs to Agaria tribe. There are six Menhirs on this megalithic site.one the Menhir is engraved among the six Menhirs which seems to be the oldest one. There is human figurine engraved on the Menhir. Five stone are standing erect in straight line but one stone is placed on the back of this straight line in the middle. There is another megalithic site in Hataklata which belongs to Oraon tribe. This site consists of Menhirs which are standing erect on the ground. There is one tall Menhir whose height 5 feet while others are small in size about 2 feet. The next site is Itchkela which is related to Oraon tribe and there are about 5 Mehirs present in this site. Hethdarn and Tigra are the areas which are on the bordering area of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. Geographically this to village is surrounded by mountains. It is also the part of Samri pat region. Samri pat region consist bauxite in abundance. There is also availability in iron ore in this region. In Tigra there is only one stone placed on the ground which is about 8 feet in height. And in Hethdarn there are two Menhirs found, one is standing erect on the ground and othe3r is placed 300mts away from the first stone. The second is tilted because of the root of the mango tree. These two sites are related to the Agaria tribe. There are abundant of iron slags scattered around the Menhir. Raunipat is situated in the Bagicha district. There are two megalithic sites in Raunipat which belongs to Korwa tribe. This megalithic site consists of boulder megalith. There are more than 20 burials which are about 5 feet long and one stone is placed on the head side of the megalith. There are megalithic sites of various tribes which are very important to be explored and excavated to get knowledge about the tribal communities. The dating of the megalithic culture is not yet deciphered in Chhattisgarh so it is very important to excavate these sites for knowing the chronology of the megalithic in Chhattisgarh. The megalithic sites which are present in Jashpur region plays an important role in constructing the chronology of the megalithic culture.

REFERENCES:

1. Srivastava K.K. Decentralized Governance and Panchayati Raj, Gyan Publishing House, Delhi, 2011, pp - 164

2. “Chhattisgarh Highest Peak: News in Hindi Naidunia. 18 May 2017

3. Verma L.N. Chhattisgarh Bhogolic Adhayayan, Vol. 2, Chhattisgarh Rajiya Hindi Granth Academy, Raipur, 2018 pp. 341

4. Fuchs Stephen, The aboriginals Tribes of India, Inter – India Publication, New Delhi, 1992, 3^rd Ed. , pp11

5. Ibid, pp.11 and 13

6. Roy S.C. Mundas and Their Country, The City Book Society, Calcutta, 1912, pp. 26 -27

7. Mazumdar R.C. The Ancient India, Motilal Banarsidas, Delhi, 1971, pp,30

8. Ghosh A. An Encyclopedia Of Indian Archaeology, Vol. 1, ICHR, New Delhi,1989 pp.110

9. Ibid, pp. 121

10. Ibid, pp. 122

11. Sharma A.K. Excavation at Karkabhat Chhattisgarh, Agam Kala Prakashans, Delhi,2011, pp.35s

Received on 15.05.2020 Modified on 11.06.2020

Int. J. Ad. Social Sciences. 2020; 8(2): 35-38.

DOI: 10.5958/2454-2679.2020.00005.5