[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Reference works](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference) › [An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989) › v1.c19.s3 # An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c19.s3: 14.3 Ash Mounds An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c19.s3 - **Language:** English ### 14.3 Ash Mounds ### [v1.c19.s3.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c19.s3.1) Ash mounds are huge imposing mounds of scoriaceous, slaggy ash of irregular plan, usually located within or in the vicinity of an ancient site with Neolithic, Megalithic or early historical remains or only those of the first two. They have been noticed in the region of the Krishna-Tungabhadra valleys comprising parts of Dts Belgaum, Bijapur, Gulbarga, Raichur, Bellary, Mahbubnagar and Anantapur. Local legends associate them variously with the burning of Bali, Hiḍambāsura or other personages of the \*Rāmāyaṇa\* and the \*Mahābhārata\*. Newbold was the first to excavate one such mound at KUPGAL to ascertain the nature, antiquity and causes of the formation of the mounds and observed that they were probably due to funerary burnings. Subsequently Foote (1872-84), Fawcett and Knox, Sewell (1899), Longhurst (1916), Modi (1927), Munn (1928-36) and Yazdani (1936) investigated them and variously opined that they were due to the burning of cow-dung on a large scale at a high temperature in the Neolithic period, to funerary holocaust of probably the Vijayanagara period, to Iranian burial activities indicating, by the way, contacts between s. India and Iran, or to gold- or iron-smelting activities. ### [v1.c19.s3.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c19.s3.2) Since 1948 considerable work on the problems of the ash mounds on systematic lines has been carried out notably by Allchin, 1963, Mujumdar-Rajaguru, 1966, Sundara, 1971, Rami Reddy, 1972, and Paddayya, 1973. Till now 64 localities (48 in Karnataka, 13 in Dt Anantapur, and three in Dt Mahbubnagar, both in Andhra Pradesh), are known to have remains of ash mounds, a few of them having two mounds each, for example KUDACHI, Dt Belgaum, BUDIHAL, Dt Gulbarga etc. The excavations by the first two and the last two, respectively at UTNUR, KUPGAL, PALAVOY, and KODEKAL reveal that they consist of two thick layers of scoriaceous ash and alternately one or two layers of 'white-flecked make-up with hard burnt surface' or dark-brown soil or variegated banded ashy layer as floor containing stray Neolithic \[11.1.5\] and Megalithic \[11.15.3\] pottery, together overlying sometimes on a prepared ashy floor or Neolithic \[4.6.9\] habitational debris. In the upper Krishna region there appears to be only one layer of scoriaceous slaggy ash overlying the Chalcolithic \[4.14.8\] habitational debris. ### [v1.c19.s3.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c19.s3.3) Allchin's excavation of the ash-mound at UTNUR and study of the other ash mounds and of the place-names implying or meaning ash on the one hand and of festivals like Holi involving burning of cow-dung, etc., led him to infer that probably the sites were cattle-pens of the Neolithic cattle-keepers; periodically the accumulated cow-dung in the pens was ritualistically burnt resulting in the formation of the mounds; that the activity appeared to have indeed continued till the beginning of the Iron Age; and that the festivals such as Holi, Diwali and Pongal seem to be the survival of such activity. Further field studies including excavation of the mound at KODEKAL by Paddayya supported Allchin's findings. But an altogether different inference was drawn by Rami Reddy from his study of the ash mounds and excavation of the mound at PALAVOY: he thought that they were due to iron-smelting activities of the post-Neolithic period. Similarly excavations at KUPGAL and subsequent laboratory examinations of the samples by Mujumdar and Rajaguru indicated without doubt that they were due to the burning of cow-dung at 900 to 1250° C. not in connection with any industrial activities such as iron-smelting, gold-extraction, glass-making, etc., and that the sites were not cattle-pens. ### [v1.c19.s3.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c19.s3.4) In view of the recent discoveries of ash mounds along the upper KRISHNA valley by the author and of their absence in the middle-upper Bhima, in the MALAPRABHA and in the upper Tungabhadra, it is suggested by him that the tradition leading to the formation of such ash mounds was probably diffused along the Krishna valley into the Krishna-Tungabhadra doab. Further n. Karnataka and three different Chalcolithic and a Neolithic cultural strains diffusing towards the doab: the Chalcolithic culture of the type of MASKI Pd I along the Krishna valley, the Chalcolithic culture characterized by the SAVALDA pottery \[11.12\] in the upper Krishna area, the Chalcolithic culture of the JORWE type \[4.14.6\] along the Bhima and the Neolithic culture from the s. \[4.6.10\]. Of these the users of the SAVALDA pottery or perhaps the builders of the Megalithic passage chambers in the upper Krishna valley \[4.17.9\] appear to be responsible for the ash mounds in the light of their distribution pattern and their circumstantial and stratigraphic evidences. Studies of the stratigraphy of the ash mounds, the characteristics of the layers and their relative positions and the contours of some of the sites on the one hand and particularly of the occurrence of sparse Megalithic pottery and iron objects in the mounds and of the proximity of areas bearing iron ore on the other perhaps indicate that the mounds were due to the dumping of scoriaceous ash from the neighbouring ironsmelting sites of the megalith-builders. ### [v1.c19.s3.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c19.s3.5) Excepting that the scoriaceous slaggy ash was due to the burning of cow-dung on a large scale at a high temperature, the other problems such as the causes, the antiquity and the authors still remain therefore unsolved. ### [v1.c19.s3.6](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c19.s3.6) Allchin, F.R., 1963, \*Neolithic Cattle-keepers of s. India\*, Cambridge. Mujumdar, G G., & Rajaguru, S.N., 1966, \*Ashmound Excavations at Kupgal\*, Pune. Paddayya, K., 1973, \*Investigations into the Neolithic Culture of the Shorapur Doab\*, Leiden. Rami Reddy, V., 1972, in \*Jour. Karnataka Univ. (Social Sciences)\*, pp. 125-36. Sundara, A., 1970, in \*Jour. Karnataka Univ. (Social Sciences)\*, pp. 1-13, 1971, \*ibid.\*, 8, pp 1-8; 1971b, in \*Prof. K.A. Nilakanta Sastri Felicitation Vol.\*, Madras, pp. 308-15; 1975, in \*Purātattva\*, 8 (to be published).—A. SUNDARA ## Linked texts (5) - [Mahābhārata](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.mahabharata.vyasa) — Vyāsa, Sanskrit - [Vālmīkirāmāyaṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/in.lit.ramayana.valmiki) — Vālmīki, Sanskrit - [Kupgal](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.site.kupgal) - [Palavoy](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.site.palavoy) - [Kodekal](https://indike.org/pramana/inp.site.kodekal) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c19.s3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.reference.ghosh-1989.v1.c19.s3) · Pramāṇa