Baise, Araga Gate and a dog named Gunda!

A motley crew at Baise!

I'm back from another field trip. The ending of the field trip, otherwise fulfilling, was on a tragic note - I came to know that S. A. Hussain - my close friend and mentor, had passed away in the early hours of December 31, 2009. I will post a separate entry on Hussain Sa'ab after this.

This trip was to photograph the winter solstice sunset at Baise - after last winter's spectacular pictures at Nilaskal, I wanted to repeat the feat at Baise. These sites contain 'menhirs' - free standing single stones, that were thus far assumed to be erected in no particular pattern. Early on, I had a hunch that they were arranged in a particular pattern and after a survey of the site at Baise (there are fewer stones there and so, easier to survey!) and the photograph of winter solstice sunset at Nilaskal, I wanted to furnish photographic proof of the alignments I had predicted at Baise.

I went with some goodies for my team of young surveyors at Baise - Santosh, Nagesh, Subrahmanya and Sudhakara - the kids who had helped me last year as well as provided a wonderful environment with their constant enthusiastic chatter. They were thrilled to see me and I was pleasantly surprised to see that even Gunda - their ferocious dog, gave me a warm welcome. In fact, when I sat down to take off my shoes, Gunda ran up to me and licked my face! The kids also took me to Bhootada Gadde - one of their 'secret places' near a stream and a waterfall. It was lovely - the place, the camaraderie and the company of the little ones.

Gunda is made to pose for a pic!

My young friends at the stream

The sad part was that the sunset was clouded out - the best I could get was a shot of the sun several degrees above the horizon near the alignment that I was planning to shoot - between the largest menhir under a tree that the locals worship as bhootaraya and the prominent stone no. 1 in my survey. I spent some time teaching the little ones to take readings on my prismatic compass.

The sun sets behind Bhootaraya

Little Nagesha tries his hand at surveying!

I spent the night at a lodge at Hosanagara and woke up at 4am to catch sunrise at Nilaskal. More disppointment was in store for me - it was misty and cloudy and there was no hint of the sun's presence anywhere in the sky even by 9am. I consoled myself by taking a few bearings of some of the alleged sight-lines and then headed back.

Sharpie - one of the menhirs of Nilaskal against the cloudy sky

On the way back, I remembered that on one of the crazy wanderings with Kailash, we had met an old man (Dharmanna of Hosuru, near Agumbe) who talked about what could only be menhirs at a place called Araga Gate. Since my route was through Araga, I decided to enquire around - but nobody there knew anything about "old stones". By that time I had got word about S. A. Hussain's passing away and I was feeling very upset. So when I saw a promising stone in a plantation off the highway, I didn't stop the car. But when I spied a flash of black granite deeper in the plantation, I got excited. Afer all, Hussain Sa'ab would've wanted me to finsih whatever I'd started. Upon inspection, there were 8 stones inside the plantation in a similar pattern to Baise and Nilaskal.

The largest menhir of the site at Araga Gate

One of the menhirs of the Araga Gate site, showing clear N_S orientation

This region is richer in prehistoric remains than anyone had ever suspected. There is plenty more to seek, plenty more to explore. Already, plans for the next trip are taking shape - Dharmanna had talked about what could only be prehistoric rock art at Hosuru...

Meadows Taylor, badang fry and a 2500 year old stupa!

Mirjan Fort

As we sat on the masonry seats in the compound of Taylor Monzzil, watching the night lights of Surpur (Shorapur) far below, sipping rum and coke, we slowly felt the exhaustion of a hard day's travel and work slipping away. And with it, some of the frustration of what had turned out to be a very exasperating day...

We were on a whirlwind trip of several sites, starting with a trip to Mirjan Fort. The fort, which is close to Bhatkal, is under the protection of ASI (Archaeological Survey of India). Kailash was asked by the Superintending Archaeologist of ASI, Dharwad Circle to have a look at it and suggest conservation strategies for the fort. We had formed a team of 2 engineers (Raghuprem M. and Ramaswamy R. N.) and 2 architects (Kailash and myself) to visit the site and assess it.

A view of Mirjan Fort

The fort is an impressive laterite structure, very massive, and has been subjected to the ravages of time and neglect. Parts of it are being restored (though without a sound strategy, I should say) and Kailash has excitedly formed plans to restore the rest of it more scientifically and conscientiously. We spent most of the day going around the fort assessing damage and forming strategies to take up the work in a phased manner.

The team takes a drinks break at Mirjan!

From Mirjan, Kailash and I moved on to Sirsi, while the others returned to Manipal. We stayed the night at Sirsi and visited Banvasi the next day. We spent the day at the Madukeshwara temple there and just moving about in the laid-back, sleepy little town and longing on the banks of the Varada river. We also examined the remains of the 30m wide brick and laterite fort walls that once encompassed the town. We also spent some time at the excavated site Gundnapur in the premises of the Veerabhadra temple.

The Madhukeswara Temple at Banvasi

Slicing through history - the fort walls at Banvasi

Kailash inspects the excavated site at the Veerabhadra Temple premises, Banvasi

From Sirsi, we moved to Gulbarga via Hubli. There we had the experience of the most frustrating kind ever. We were to inspect the recently excavated Adholoka Maha Chaitya - a Buddhist Stupa believed to have been built during 3rd century BC to 3rd century AD, at a place called Sanniti. The day started on a disatrous note. The ASI guy (name withheld!) who was to get us there was of the less competent variety, and callous and ignorant to boot. He could not even guide us properly to his own office. Then, after we had somehow reached the place, he made us wait a long period (while he had "tiffin" among other things...) , only to inform us grandly that since no vehicles were available because a jatra was going on, our trip could not happen. We departed in as best civil way we could and found a taxi after a long hunt.

The taxi driver was another poor communicator and between his unenthusiastic approach and the ASI goon's active misguidance, we found ourselves at Sanniti (actually Kanaganahalli) only by 8pm! It was the most frustrating experience going around in the ASI-goon-defined circles while the last of the daylight ebbed teasingly away. However, the guards appointed at the site, with their enthusiastic help more than made up for the by now lost reputation of the ASI with us!

By torch light we saw the very impressive remains of what must have been a most magnificent stupa in its time. The limestone panels depicting the Jataka tales, the life of Siddhartha and his transformation into the Buddha and even one of the Emperor Ashoka with his (female!) bodyguards are exquisite, though cracked and broken.

A panel showing Emperor Ashoka with his bodyguards at Sanniti

From Sanniti, we proceeded to the historic town of Surpur, where a historian friend of ours - Mr. Bhaskar Rao, arranged for us to stay at Taylor Monzzil. The location of the house of this famous British officer and novelist could not have been better. It is at the top of a hill overlooking the town. The large and well planned house built in the colonial style is now a PWD guest house. As we sat for a long while outside the house watching the lights of Surpur, all the tribulations of that frustrating day melted away.

Me pretending to be Meadows Taylor at Taylor Monzzil

Next morning was lovely, as we saw the sun rise over Surpur from Kudremukha - the lookout point at the top of the hill near the house. As we got ready for the next task on the trip, I silently thanked the man who built this lovely house while he was helping the young Raja of Surpur administer his domain and also reported many of the megaliths in this area for the first time.

Sunrise at Kudremukha, near Taylor Monzzil

We took a jeep to the village of Rajan Koluru, near Kodekal. After a brief search, we found what we were looking for - 50-odd dolmens on a flat piece of land near the canal that was built recently. We woked without lunch, surveying each of the 42 dolmens that are reasonably intact. we found that all of them were N-S oriented, a first in our studies. We found 4 more dolmens to the east of the main site, including one in which the port-hole was intact, lending credence to my hunch that these are basically S-facing dolmens.

One of the dolmens at Rajan Koluru

Our friends at Rajan Koluru with Kailash

After working till nearly 4pm, we hit the road again, making a beeline for the nearest watering hole, where we refreshed. A beautiful little place on the highway, marred only by the sight of little boys working as waiters. Our waiter, a boy called Sunil, said that he does not go to school. When we asked for snacks to go with our beer, he recommended "badang" fry. Disdainfully, he explained to us nitwits that, no, it is not mutton fry, but badang! It turned out to be a sort of fried bhel puri with lots and lots of gun powder in it!

Badang Fry!!!

Refreshed by several beers and badangs, we set off for Lingsugur, from where we began the return journey to Manipal, thus ending one more remarkable trip. I know that one needs to return... Lingsugur, Gajendragad, Maski... Several megalithic sites remain in this nucleus of megalithic culture. Dr. Sundara would know...

A tribute to Prof. Achyutha Rao

The late Prof. D. S. Achyutha Rao

It has been more than 2 years since I was awarded the Prof. D. S. Achyutha Rao Memorial History Research Fellowship for the year 2007 to conduct research on the megalithic monuments of south India. Prof. Achyutha Rao was an eminent Professor of History at the graduate and post-graduate level at Maharaja's College, Mysore and later at "Manasa Gangotri", University of Mysore till his unfortunate demise in 1965. I applied for this fellowship with a fascination for the enigmatic structures called megaliths found all over southern India. Of course, megaliths are found all over the world and India is no exception. From my college days, I was enamored of these strange looking structures and enjoyed reading about the possible connection of these with astronomy. Books such as "In search of Ancient Astronomies" by E. C. Krupp whetted my appetite and I wanted to know if such connections were true for Indian megaliths as well. Was there a Stonehenge somewhere in the wide expanse of our motherland, waiting to be discovered..?

The Fellowship gave me the opportunity to follow my heart and I set off on megalith-hunting jaunts from my base in lovely Manipal. Of course, I concentrated mainly on Karnataka, with the occasional foray into neighbouring Kerala and one trip to Burzahoma in Kashmir. I travelled hallowed terrain like that of Aihole, Badami and Pattadakal, Hanamsagar and Vibhutihalli, marvelled at the dolmens and rock art of Hire Benkal and stood in awe at the menhir site of Nilaskal, Baise... In the course of my travels, I passed the wonderful architecture of Hampi, Aihole, Badami etc. and, though they were not the immediate focus of my study, could not help being moved deep down inside by the sheer magnificence of these sites.

I made progress on the megaliths, too. I found that most of the sepulchral megaliths (mostly burials) were oriented to face sunrise or sunset at some day of the year, though there were sites like Meguti Hill at Aihole where all the megaliths faced all points of the compass with no preferred orientation towards any point of celestial interest on the horizon. As for the non-sepulchral sites, I found that many of the stone avenue sites (where a large number of stones are arranged in rough grids) like the ones at Vibhutihalli and Hanamsagar were roughly oriented to the cardinal directions.

The dolmens of Hire Benkal

But it was at the menhir sites of Nilaskal and Baise (also nearby are 2 more sites - Hergal and Mumbaru) that I found definite astronomical purpose in the layout of the stones. Many pairs of stones align up to dramatically frame the sunset on winter solstice day (the shortest day of the year). These same stones team up with other stones to frame the winter solstice sunrise and summer solstice sunrise and sunset. The apparently haphazard distribution of these stones seem to follow a sort of distorted solstitial grid.

The menhirs of Nilaskal

Sunset on midwinter day at Nilaskal

I have a lot of people to thank for the enormous support that I have received for this project. I thank Dr. Prasanna and Dr. (Mrs.) Rajani Prasanna from the botton of my heart for taking personal interest in this project. I also wish to thank Manipal University for seconding the grant. Dr. Vinod Bhat- Registrar, International Programs, Manipal University has been a source of strength throughout this project and instrumental in guiding me and keeping me on track. Prof. S. Settar of NIAS has given me valuable advice. My guide Prof. M. N. Vahia and co-guide Prof. Sudhakara G. have given me invaluable guidance and support. Stalwarts from the field of megalithic research have helped me in innumerable ways - Prof. A. Sundara, Dr. U. S. Moorti, Dr. Ganapaiah Bhat, Dr. Ravi Korisettar are some of the people who have helped me a lot. Kailash Rao has been a co-traveller on many of my site visits and surveys. And lack of space prevents me from naming innumerable persons at these scattered sites who have offered hospitality and guided me to several of these monuments.

Mrs. Chitre, Prof. S. M. Chitre, my team of young surveyors, Mayank and me on location at Baise

During these travels, I believe I have seen the Karnataka that few tourists see. Near Aihole and Badami, Hampi and Shahpur, I have been chasing monuments that are not remarkable for their architectural splendor. But these few stones hobbled together in innovative ways mark the true beginnings of architecture - when man started expressing his belief systems through the medium of architecture. And in following this trail of ancient architecture, I have passed through beautiful country and made friends with the rural folk of Karnataka. In the process, I have come to love this part of the world with a passion I didn't know I was capable of... Thank you, Prof. Achyutha Rao, for the entire experience; but most of all, for opening my eyes to the beauty and splendour of this magnificent part of India.